Minister's Message

The Honourable Jane Philpott, PC, MP, Minister of Health

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) 2014–15 Departmental Performance Report clearly demonstrates the Government's commitment to the health and safety of Canadians. Canadian families can continue to have confidence that our food safety system remains one of the very best in the world. Canada is proud to have one of the strongest food safety systems in the world, ranking number one (along with Ireland) in a 2014 Conference Board of Canada report that compared 17 countries.

Under the Health Portfolio, and the Healthy and Safe Food for Canadians Framework, the CFIA's already strong working relationship with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada underpins a modern, coordinated approach to food safety. The three pillars of this framework are:

Promotion;

Prevention; and

Protection.

Promotion

The CFIA continued to increase its communications with consumers. Through its promotion activities, in partnership with industry, consumers, and federal, provincial, and municipal organizations, the CFIA protects Canadians from preventable health risks. During 2014–15, the CFIA:

Published approximately 1,000 food recalls and allergy/allergen alerts through its Facebook and Twitter accounts to inform Canadians about food safety;

Sent e-mail alerts to more than 50,000 subscribers; and

Held extensive engagement sessions with consumers and stakeholders on modernizing the way food is labelled, and published a “What We Heard” report in collaboration with Health Canada.

The CFIA also continued its consultations with Canadian businesses, big and small. In 2013 and 2014, the Agency held extensive consultations with industry and other stakeholders on its proposed new food framework.

In May 2015, the CFIA began further consultations with micro and small businesses to find out more about the types of tools, guidance resources and support that would assist these businesses in producing food that is safe and compliant with federal regulations.

Prevention

In February 2015, the Agricultural Growth Act received Royal Assent. The Act gives inspectors stronger tools to enforce regulations and deter anyone who puts Canada's plant and animal resource base at risk.

The CFIA has a well-planned emergency preparedness and response capacity. However, threat environments continue to evolve, requiring the regular updating of plans and responses so that the Agency can maintain a minimum of essential business functions during emergencies. Work progressed on the development of a Strategic Emergency Management Framework, which includes the management of plant and animal health – the first links in the food chain.

The CFIA moved forward on the Canadian Food Safety Information Network, an initiative that involves collaboration with provincial partners to improve the Agency's ability to anticipate, detect, and respond to food-borne threats and hazards.

Protection

The CFIA's surveillance and response systems were put to the test and proved strong in 2014–15.

In February 2015 in Alberta, a cow was identified as having bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The CFIA not only responded to the specific situation, it continued to engage partners and stakeholders to review Canada's BSE programming and communicate the Canadian long-term approach to BSE disease control.

The CFIA faced two avian influenza outbreaks in 2015 – one in British Columbia and one in Ontario – and responded vigorously in collaboration with the poultry industry and the provinces to facilitate a coordinated approach and to prevent the spread of the virus.

Food Safety was the theme for the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Day on April 7, 2015. For the CFIA, every day is food safety day. This Agency remains committed to the health and safety of Canadian families and continues to work hard to protect the food we produce and eat.

Organizational Context

Raison d'être

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is Canada's largest science-based regulatory agency. It has approximately 6,762Footnote 1 employees working across Canada in the National Capital Region (NCR) and in four operational areas (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and Western).

The CFIA is dedicated to safeguarding food, animal, and plant health, which enhances the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment, and economy.

The CFIA develops and delivers inspection and other services in order to:

Prevent and manage food safety risks;

Protect plant resources from pests, diseases and invasive species;

Prevent and manage animal and zoonotic diseases;

Contribute to consumer protection; and

Contribute to market access for Canada's food, plants, and animals.

The CFIA bases its activities on science, effective risk management, commitment to service and efficiency, and collaboration with domestic and international organizations that share its objectives.

Responsibilities

The CFIA'S Key Federal Partners

Health Canada

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Public Health Agency of Canada

Canada Border Services Agency

Canadian Grain Commission

Public Safety Canada

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Natural Resources Canada, including Canadian Forest Service

Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada

Environment Canada, including Canadian Wildlife Service

The CFIA is responsible for administrating and enforcing 13 federal statutes and 38 sets of regulations, for regulating the safety and quality of food sold in Canada, and for supporting a sustainable plant and animal resource base. In November 2012, the Safe Food for Canadians Act received Royal Assent. This new legislation, when fully in force, will bring into effect new regulations that provide the necessary legal framework for a more consistent approach to strengthening food inspection in Canada. The Safe Food for Canadians Act consolidates and will replace the Fish Inspection Act, the Canada Agricultural Products Act, the Meat Inspection Act, and the food provisions of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. The Agricultural Growth Act received Royal Assent on February 25, 2015 and has come into force. The Agricultural Growth Act modernizes and strengthens federal agriculture legislation, supports innovation in the Canadian agriculture industry and enhances global market opportunities for Canadians. The Agricultural Growth Act updates the following suite of Acts that the CFIA uses to regulate Canada's agriculture sector: Plant Breeders' Rights Act, Feeds Act, Fertilizers Act, Seeds Act, Health of Animals Act, Plant Protection Act, and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act.

The CFIA shares many of its core responsibilities with other federal departments and agencies, with provincial, territorial and municipal authorities, with private industry, and with other stakeholders. The CFIA works with its partners to implement food safety measures; manage food, animal, and plant risks, incidents and emergencies; and promotes the development of food safety and disease control systems to maintain the safety of Canada's high-quality agriculture, agri-food, aquaculture and fishery products . The CFIA's activities include verifying the compliance of imported products; registering and inspecting establishments; testing food, animals, plants, and their related products; and approving the use of many agricultural inputs.

Within a three-year period, with the passage of the Safe Food for Canadians Act in 2012 and the Agricultural Growth Act in 2015, every statute administered and enforced by the CFIA has been revised with new authorities. Having a modern legislative base is critical for the CFIA to address new challenges and issues, and respond to new pressures, trends and science.

New cross-cutting authorities include:

Modern inspector authorities so that inspectors have the right tools to do their job;

Revised and strengthened offence provisions, with more up-to-date fines and penalties;

Explicit authorization for export certification;

Regulatory authority to require licensing and/or registration;

Explicit authority to incorporate documents by reference;

Regulatory authority to require preventive control plans, quality management plans for manufacturers; and

Document and record-keeping requirements.

Additionally, the CFIA actively participates in international fora for the development of international science-based rules, standards, guidelines and policies. It also engages in the management of sanitary and phytosanitary committees established under international agreements and actively promotes the Canadian science-based regulatory system among foreign trading partners. The CFIA negotiates to resolve scientific and technical issues, contributing to market access for Canadian goods. It also provides scientific advice, develops new technologies, provides testing services, and conducts regulatory research.

At the CFIA, decisions are based on high- quality, timely, relevant science. Science informs policy development and program design and delivery through foresight, advice, risk assessment, the influence
of international standards, research and development, and testing.

Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture (PAA)

To effectively fulfill its responsibilities in safeguarding Canada's food supply and sustaining its animal and plant resource base, the CFIA aims to achieve its strategic outcomeFootnote 2 (A safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base). The CFIA's Program Alignment Architecture (PAA) illustrates the Agency's plans to allocate and manage its resources to achieve the corresponding expected results. The CFIA's PAA framework, through which resources are allocated for effective delivery of its mandate and performance reporting to Parliament, consists of:

Organizational Priorities

The following table, based on the Agency's Long-Term Strategic Plan (LTSP), outlines the CFIA's priorities for 2014-15. By defining the Agency's long-term vision and carefully considering its key strategic risks, the LTSP assists the CFIA in mitigating its risk, strengthening its foundation and effectively delivering its core program activities.

Integrating proactive and preventive risk management approaches into all CFIA programs and bolstering these approaches with a clear inclusive focus on partnerships and information sharingFootnote 4, will help the CFIA to anticipate, prevent, prepare, and manage issues, including emergencies. In 2014-15, the CFIA:

Continued to develop new food regulations in support of both the new Safe Food for Canadians Act and the implementation of the Integrated Agency Inspection Model;

Reviewed the requirements for the Imported Food Sector Products Regulations and integrated them into the overarching proposed Safe Food for Canadians Regulations to ensure industry readiness and convergence;

Finalized the Integrated Agency Inspection Model (iAIM) which seeks to provide a more predictable, productive, and consistent inspection approach. The iAIM replaces the Improved Food Inspection model which had been completed in 2013/14;

Launched the renewal of its Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Policy and Framework. The modernized integrated risk management approach will permit the Agency to more efficiently respond to and manage risk across the CFIA's business lines;

In collaboration with the provinces and territories and in concert with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a report was completed identifying the best methods to mitigate the risk of spreading the Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) at the point of origin. The CFIA continued to work with the USDA, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand and other countries to expand the AGM vessel certification program so as to minimize the incursion of the AGM to North America;

Federal, provincial, territorial (FPT) Agriculture Ministers supported the development of an emergency management framework and the CFIA is collaborating with the provinces to develop a Strategic Emergency Management Framework, that includes the management of plant and animal health risks. The vision for the framework is to develop a collaborative, comprehensive and risk-based approach to achieving the common goals of reducing and managing risks, while building resilience in the sector.

Collaborated closely with the Province of British Columbia and key industry stakeholders to facilitate a co-ordinated approach to respond to the Avian Influenza situation, and prevent the spread of the virus; and

The Government of Canada tabled the Agricultural Growth Act on December 9, 2013 and received Royal Assent on February 25, 2015. As of March 2015, all of the CFIA sections of the Agricultural Growth Act were in force, except one - Amendments to definitions of “livestock” and “sell” in the Feeds Act - that will require regulations to operate.

Received funding approval from the Treasury Board for the Canadian Food Safety Information Network (CFSIN), an initiative that will improve Canada's ability to anticipate, detect and respond to food-borne threats and hazards.

Strengthening the CFIA's citizen-centred service delivery culture will result in enhanced program delivery and increased confidence in the Agency as a trusted and credible regulator by domestic and international stakeholders. In 2014-15, the CFIA:

Launched the operations of the National Centres of Operational Guidance and Expertise to increase consistency in the advice, guidance and direction provided to the inspectorate and to centralize the subject matter expertise within a single Branch.

Through an established Complaints and Appeals Office, the Agency continued to seek opportunities to enhance the quality of CFIA's service delivery and program design by working with stakeholders - producers and Canadians alike - to resolve issues that affected industry and individual businesses involved in the food, animal and plant health sectors.

Continued the review of User Fees and Service Standards for Food Safety Program, Fertilizer, Feed and Animal Health programs exports. Initiated review on the remaining Animal Health and Plant Resources Programs.

Completed Part II of a technical review of CanadaGAP, a private food safety certification program that will enhance CFIA's alternative service delivery.

Continued to define the business requirements of the Electronic Service Delivery Platform (ESDP) project, which will provide a set of technologies and tools for citizens, industry, and CFIA inspectors in their respective roles under the new inspection model. ESDP will:

Automate business processes (e.g., licensing, export certificates, work tasking, inspection, and enforcement) across all business lines (food, plant, and animal);

Standardize the gathering of operational performance data, information to support risk assessments, and mechanisms to better target inspection resources to high risks areas; and

Increase the productivity, effectiveness, coverage, and transparency of the inspection regime and provide more predictable, reliable, and efficient service to industry.

In support of a more risk based approach to oversight, the Agency began exploring how it may enhance this approach by assessing industry's use of private certification schemes. As part of this effort, the CFIA drafted and consulted on a discussion paper that considers industry's use of private certification schemes

Continued to facilitate grain exports during the huge grain surge in 2014-15 by increasing its capacity in regional offices and laboratories to maintain and improve service delivery. The CFIA shortened sample analysis time; implemented sample tracking systems for submissions and reporting; delivered all requests for ship inspections and maintained its service standards for issuance of phytosanitary certificates to the overall satisfaction of the grain industry.

Implemented an emergency plan in response to the unanticipated Russian embargo on Canadian meat and seafood exports. Through active engagement with the Canadian fish industry, the vast majority of the embargoed containers of products in-transit to Russia found alternative markets, thereby minimizing industry losses.

Adapt and evolve to meet new demands and expectations with a focus on internal performance excellence

Previously committed to

All Programs

Summary of Progress

Optimizing performance will enable the CFIA to evaluate the effectiveness of the Agency's policies and programs in order to allocate resources to areas of highest risk. In 2014-15, the CFIA:

Implemented a renewed governance structure, which is in line with the Agency's changing business needs and enhances whole-of-Agency information-sharing and integration. The renewed governance structure is designed to facilitate an inclusive approach to planning, executing and ultimately, effective delivery of programs and policies.

Developed a Business Architecture Framework which provides executives across business lines and branches the ability to view issues and solutions from a shared, enterprise-wide perspective. Developing a blueprint of the enterprise provides a common understanding of the organization and will be used to ensure that the business strategy and vision become embedded in the culture and governance of the Agency.

Continued the development of a new PAA for 2017-18 that aligns with CFIA's Agency Transformation and Single Food approach, the Safe Food for Canadians Act, and the Agricultural Growth Act. The PAA will include a structure, program descriptions with objectives and activities, a supporting PMF, and eventually financial coding for reporting. The allocation of resources to the CFIA by Parliament and Parliamentary reporting are based on the PAA.

Focusing on diverse talents, supported by training and modern tools will result in a stable and skilled CFIA workforce with adaptable and satisfied employees. In 2014-15, the CFIA:

Continued to retain and attract competent, qualified, and motivated personnel;

Provided modern tools to the inspectorate, such as ruggedized tablet computers. These portable, durable devices provide access to the CFIA network and enable inspectors to perform more of their duties on-site;

Provided training and information to staff to support the Agency and career progress;

Encouraged sharing good practices through participation in communities of practice

Developed and began implementation of a Talent Management framework, including work architecture and CFIA competencies and talent mapping assessment tools to support modernized competency-based Human Resources. Initial focus is at the EX-minus one and EX-minus two levels as well as other non-EX levels within the Agency.

An impressive 82.4% of CFIA employees completed the 2014 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES). This was significantly higher than the Government of Canada response rate of 68.9%. 95% of CFIA employees who responded to the survey expressed satisfaction with their job.

Risk Analysis

The CFIA is responsible for identifying and managing risks to the food supply and the plant and animal resource base on which safe food and a prosperous economy depends. As such, the Agency uses a robust risk management discipline. The discipline of integrated risk management has been adopted by all parts of the CFIA as an integral part of policy, priority setting, planning, resourcing, delivery, review and reporting activities.

The vast majority of the risks that fall within the Agency's mandate are managed in concert with numerous partners and stakeholders, both domestic and international. Factors influencing key strategic risks faced by the Agency include (but are not limited to):

the ongoing emergence of new pathogens due to increases in international travel and trade, microbial adaptation, changes in production methods and distribution as well as human demographics and behaviour;

the convergence of human, animal and ecosystem health issues;

the emergence of global supply chains, which have fundamentally changed the way agricultural products are produced, processed, packaged, distributed and sold;

an increase in both the volume and variety of goods coming into Canada;

increased export opportunities for Canadian producers, coupled with changing international standards and more stringent requirements;

rapid advances in processing and manufacturing technologies, resulting in significant increases in production speed, volume and diversity and the subsequent need for legislative and regulatory frameworks to keep pace;

an increasingly knowledgeable, demanding and risk-averse consumer and stakeholder base; and

a growing international consensus around the need for common technologies and scientific approaches to support industry oversight and the global agri-food trade.

A cornerstone of the CFIA's risk management process is the development of an Agency- wide Corporate Risk Profile (CRP). The Agency's CRP identifies the key strategic risks to which the Agency is exposed as a result of its internal and external operating environments, and provides strategies aimed at reducing risk exposure to tolerable levels over the next several years. The results of the corporate risk profiling process have directly informed the strategies presented throughout this report.

Table 1 highlights the CFIA's key strategic risks, planned responses to those risks, and notes what was done in 2014-2015 to minimize risks. The risks outlined below were identified in the 2014-2015 RPP.

Given that the Agency's key corporate risks are currently unchanged, and that response strategies are relatively long-term in nature, the risk responses were not significantly modified from the previous report.

Table 1: Key Risk

Risk

Risk Response Strategy

Link to Program Alignment Architecture

Management Information and IM/IT Infrastructure

The ability to make risk-based decisions due to the lack of timely, accurate and useful data and information.

The Agency's diverse information requirements and national presence has resulted in an IM/IT infrastructure containing a complex mix of new and old equipment that supports multiple IM/IT systems and databases. Differences in how information is collected, analyzed, and used across multiple systems and hardware may impede information sharing and timely operational and regulatory decision making.

Business Information Management Centre (BIMC)

Produced BIMC dashboards on a quarterly basis that provided high level corporate, performance, monitoring and operational information to support senior management decision making.

Improved the information collection and governance process for senior management dashboards, as well as enhanced the dashboard content with trending information.

Improved Business Intelligence Capability:

A Strategy and Roadmap was drafted to improve business intelligence and analytics capabilities in alignment with and in support of Agency strategic direction.

Improvements made to the operational processes for managing the development, maintenance and quality of reporting products that are supported by business intelligence tools.

Email Transformation Initiative (ETI) - Preparation and Readiness:

In support of good information management practices, in alignment with the Treasury Board Standard on Email Management, and in preparation for the migration to the enterprise- wide email solution, provided training to employees on proper management of information of business value. Storage limits applied to email boxes.

In preparation for the technical migration from the Agency email solution to the enterprise email solution, completed a desktop readiness assessment and migration plans are being implemented in cooperation with the Shared Services Canada (SSC) Email Transformation Initiative (ETI) team.

Electronic Service Delivery Platform (ESDP)

Definition of business requirements for the Electronic Service Delivery Platform (ESDP) project continued.

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Inspection Effectiveness

The ability to have appropriate inspection effectiveness to expeditiously prevent, detect and respond to threats to food safety, animals and plants.

Until recently, the Agency delivered 14 independently evolved inspection programs, each having diverse and complex requirements for
training, information collection and industry compliance that differ depending on the commodity being regulated.

Currently, the Agency's resource efficiency is impacted due to the maintenance of multiple training programs and IM/IT systems used to address distinct variations in inspection processes, tools, and information collection.

Agency Transformation Agenda

Integrated Agency Inspection Model:

Finalized development of an integrated Agency Inspection Model (iAIM) and began implementation of various components of the model. iAIM sets out a standardized inspection process, bringing consistency across business lines and commodities. A suite of draft operational guidance documents was developed to support implementation of the iAIM.

Continued to modernize the inspection system to enhance efficiency. Enhancements include the creation of an Inspector General Office. Different categories of inspectors, variety of inspection mechanisms and validation processes have also been implemented.

Continued to deliver the Pre-Requisite Employment Program (PREP). PREP became a part of the Agency's core business with a newly developed registrar's office charged with overseeing the administration and coordination of the program for all newly hired inspectors. PREP is designed to help orient new inspectors, and prepare them for their roles and responsibilities.

Continued to deliver the Supervisors' School program to enhance food safety culture through effective supervision.

Centers of Operational Guidance and Expertise:

Launched the operations of the National Centers of Operational Guidance and Expertise to increase consistency in the advice, guidance and direction provided to the inspectorate and to centralize the subject matter expertise within a single Branch.

Human Resources Modernization

Classification Reform Regulatory Science (SR) Group:

Standard definition completed, role descriptors finalized, MOU negotiated and signed with the union, support from Treasury Board Secretariat obtained.

SR conversion on target for implementation in 2015-16.

Collective Agreement Reform

Classification modernization on track.

CFIA training curriculums for main communities of practice are in final stages of development.

Revised EX policy suite in support of talent management.

Began development of HR frameworks in support of CFIA communities (Science, Inspectorate, Advisory, Veterinarians, Services and Leadership).

Business Architecture:

Developed the Business Architecture Framework, aimed at providing executives across business lines and branches the ability to view issues and solutions from a shared, enterprise-wide perspective

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Scientific Capability

The ability to have the scientific capability to adapt and respond in a timely manner.

Advancements in science and technology have increased the complexity of the commodities the Agency regulates. Additionally, there is growing international consensus around the need for common scientific equipment and approaches to support industry oversight and the global agri-food trade. The Agency is expected to maintain an employee base and modern laboratory facilities that reflects these advancements in regulated products and international requirements.

Human Resources Modernization

HR Framework for Science / Regulatory Organizations.

CFIA's new staffing framework was implemented.

Research conducted on best predictors for quality of hire.

New assessment methodology introduced and applied to staffing processes where applicable.

Development of strategy for entry-level and specialized recruitment for top-end scientists completed.

Strengthen Science Capacity

Modernization of laboratory infrastructure and equipment:

Renovated existing food laboratory space in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to support improved work flow and increased sample throughput.

Completed Project Planning for St. Hyacinthe laboratory.

Initiated Project Execution for the same laboratory with contract award.

Canadian and US accreditation criteria for food testing laboratories were analyzed for similarities including examination of possible changes to accreditation requirements occurring as part of broader food safety legislation modernization.

A CFSIN governance and organizational structure has been developed, including the support and engagement from the federal and provincial partners.

Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network (CAHSN):

Signed data sharing agreements with eight provinces and key partners.

Began working on new CAHSN partnerships, such as the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence or CNPHI “on the go” project which offers the opportunity to involve CAHSN partners in the development of agile technology.

Enhance Engagement

Enhancing laboratory response capacity:

Laboratory methods improved and validated to reduce the time required to test samples and enable a more rapid response. Methods will be transferred to industry and federal/provincial/ territorial partners.

Continued work on CFIA's research project with Genome Canada and Alberta Innovates Biosolutions on E. coli O 157:H7 genomics.

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Legislative, Regulatory and Program Framework

The ability of the current legislative, regulatory and program framework to support the effective delivery of the Agency's mandate.

Rapid advances in processing and manufacturing technologies have resulted in significant increases in production speed, volume and diversity, requiring the subsequent need for updated legislative and regulatory frameworks. Statutes and authorities impact the design and delivery of programs that regulate new commodities and support economic competitiveness within the industry.

In support of the anticipated coming-into force of the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA), draft regulations have been completed and a third round of engagement launched with a focus on micro and small businesses.

CFIA held the Healthy and Safe Food Regulatory Forum in June 2014 on various Agency Transformation consultation documents and received over 400 formal submissions from stakeholders.

Maple Products Regulations were amended to facilitate the trade of maple syrup with the United States and reduce consumer confusion regarding grade names and color classes.

To further strengthen Canada's food inspection system, published the final regulatory amendment to implement Administrative Monetary Penalties under the Meat Inspection Act and Regulations in the Canada Gazette II.

Continued to revise the Seeds Regulations as well as the Fertilizer Regulations.

Continued to consult on various animal health regulatory amendments.

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Managing Change

The ability to effectively manage change on an ongoing basis.

The global evolution of economic, social and environmental factors influences the regulatory and business environment within which the Agency operates.

Consequently, fiscal restraint is growing in importance, as is the subsequent need for greater innovation to achieve efficiency while maintaining or increasing effectiveness in the way the Agency does its business and delivers its mandate.

Agency Transformation

Continued whole of Agency initiative to transform and modernize how mandated programs and activities are delivered to better serve Canadians.

Building on a strong foundation, continued to strengthen food safety and consumer protection by improving regulatory and oversight strategies and tools. These include new inspection model, legislative and regulatory modernization, transforming the way we do business, better risk management, and providing more information to our partners and consumers.

To effectively manage the transformation, organizational restructuring is being implemented.

Organizational Design

Developed and began implementation of a Talent Management framework, including work architecture and CFIA competencies and talent mapping assessment tools to support modernized competency-based HR. Initial focus at the EX minus one and EX minus two levels as well as other non-EX levels within the Agency.

Classification modernization is on track.

Culture Change:

CFIA made progress in moving towards a “One Agency” approach to culture change, which emphasizes that, while the CFIA is divided organizationally along branch and business lines, the Agency itself has one set of priorities and one budget.

Two Senior Human Resource Committee presentations were made to confirm a “One- Agency” approach to culture change in fall 2014. An ED/DG-level Advisory Panel was created in December 2014 with representatives from across the CFIA branches and offices. A proposed action plan and path forward presented to Agency Modernization Executive Table in March 2015.

CFIA Governance Renewal

CFIA reviewed its corporate governance structure in order to uphold the accountabilities of branch heads and committee members, to bring governance in line with the Agency's changing business needs and enhance whole-of-Agency information-sharing and integration. The new governance model is guided by the principles of accountability, transparency and performance.

Enhance Project Management

CFIA adopted the Enterprise Project Management Framework across all its projects and is following an integrated annual business planning and investment planning cycle.

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Transparency and Leveraging Relationships

Opportunity for the Agency to increase its transparency and accountability to stakeholders.

Information sharing enables regulated parties to take steps to ensure compliance and helps to increase public awareness and confidence in the Canadian marketplace.

Diverse methods exist to engage and collaborate with industry, other governmental stakeholders and the public to enhance the development of outputs that are mutually beneficial and agreed-upon.

Enhance Service and Communication

A white paper was produced to review the Agency's transparency experiences and key considerations, while a steering committee and working group were established to continue efforts associated with the Transparency Agenda.

An Open Agency Steering Committee and Working Group were established to continue defining Phase III of the Transparency Agenda.

The Healthy and Safe Food Regulatory Forum was held in June 2014: 250 external stakeholders participated and discussed elements of the Agency's ongoing modernization efforts.

Developed a draft Compliance Promotion Strategy to encourage and facilitate regulated parties' understanding of their regulatory requirements.

Continued to enhance the official CFIA Guidance Document Repository which is centralized on the website to provide inspectors and industry with easy access to accurate official regulatory documents.

International Engagement

CFIA continued to advance Canadian positions at international standard setting bodies meetings. For instance:

Led and coordinated Canada's Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) input into various World Trade Organization (WTO) fora.

Led Canada's participation at the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE); and in certain committees of the Codex Alimentarius Commission to promote the development of international science-based standards consistent with Canada's regulatory framework.

Provided technical assistance to developing countries in accordance with the WTOSPS Agreement to facilitate the development and implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures based on sound science.

Work continued on initial Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) and Beyond the Border (BtB) initiatives:

To enhance regulatory cooperation with the United States, the CFIA successfully negotiated four (4) enhanced work plans with the United States in the areas of meat inspection and certification, plant health, animal health, and food safety.

Progress made on finalizing a guidance document for the Canada-US Zoning arrangement for the Recognition of Foreign Animal Disease Control and Eradication Zones. This was one of the 29 initiatives included in the Joint Action Plan completed for the RCC where Canada and the U.S. will seek greater alignment in their regulatory approaches over the coming two years.

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Emergency Management

The ability to respond to multiple simultaneous or large-scale emergencies.

The CFIA has a well- planned emergency preparedness and response capacity. However threat environments continue to evolve, requiring regular updating of plans and responses to reflect changes and find efficiencies to ensure that the Agency maintains a minimum of essential business functions during emergencies.

FPT Agriculture Ministers supported the development of an emergency management framework and the CFIA collaborated with the provinces to develop a Strategic Emergency Management Framework, that includes the management of plant and animal health risks. The vision for the framework is to develop a collaborative, comprehensive and risk- based approach to achieving the common goals of reducing and managing risks, while building sector resilience through continuous improvement.

Effectively managed major emergency situations with the collaboration of its provincial and industry partners by rapidly mobilizing resources:

Swiftly responded to an Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak in British Columbia in December 2014 and established a primary control zone in the area where the disease was identified to prevent spreading.

Continued to engage partners and stakeholders to review Canada's BSE programming and began communicating the Canadian long-term approach to BSE disease control in the wake of the identification of a cow with BSE in February 2015 in Alberta, which had a birth year of 2009.

Swiftly and effectively responded to outbreaks in Nova Scotia of (Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) by maintaining site control, destroying or composting fish as well as cleaning and disinfecting affected sites and plants.

Mobilized resources and responded effectively to a case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) in February 2014. PED poses no risk to human health or food safety.

Effectively managed the incursion of Asian Long-horned Beetle (ALHB) in Ontario. In collaboration with the province and local authorities, established a regulated area to help eliminate the pest.

Linked to the CFIA's Strategic Outcome of
a safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

This number includes active employees as well as those on paid or unpaid leave.

Type is defined as follows: previously committed to - committed to in the first or second fiscal year prior to the subject year of the report; ongoing - committed to at least three fiscal years prior to the subject year of the report; and new - newly committed to in the reporting year of the Report on Plans and Priorities or the Departmental Performance Report.

The exchange of information among partners will be conducted according to applicable provincial and/or federal access to information and privacy legislation and common law principles, and existing information-sharing arrangements.

Actual Expenditure

The increase from planned to actual spending of $226.9 million and 553 FTEs reflects incremental activities funded via the 2014-15 Supplementary Estimates, increased Statutory authority expenditures, as well as significant expenditures made on behalf of the Treasury Board (parental and maternity allowances, entitlements on cessation, etc.), for which the Agency received allocations from Treasury Board Votes.

Through the 2014-15 Supplementary Estimates, Agency funding was renewed for: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE); maintenance of a daily shift inspection presence in all federally registered meat processing establishments; and participation in the Government of Canada Genomics Research and Development Initiative. In addition, new resources were provided to: establish a Food Safety Information Network to strengthen the ability
to detect and respond to food hazards; to implement enhanced food safety oversight programming; and, to undertake activities to improve market access for Canadian agricultural products. Funding for all of these initiatives was not reflected in the Agency's 2014-15 planned spending, as it had not yet been approved by Parliament.

It should be noted that the Agency incurred substantial one-time disbursements in 2014-15 related to government-wide workforce initiatives, including the transition to salary payments in arrears and the cash out of accumulated severance. As well, the Agency ratified all outstanding collective agreements resulting in significant one-time retroactive salary settlement payments. These extraordinary one-time payments account for the majority of the increase from Planned to Actual Spending, and result in increased spending levels in 2014-15 in all but one program. The Animal Health and Zoonotics Program had a net decrease in 2014-15 due to a significant decline from previous years in statutory compensation payments made under the Health of Animals Act.

A comparison of authorities available for use and actual spending yields $34.7 million of unused 2014-15 authorities. These lapsing resources relate to delays in the implementation of various initiatives, as well as frozen resources (required lapses related to reprofiling of funding into future years, and incremental employee benefit plan contributions for retroactive salary settlement payments).

The Agency's overall spending has increased from 2012-13 to 2014-15 by approximately 8%. This is as a result of additional funding received for various initiatives, one-time disbursements in 2014-15, partially offset by the implementation of Budget 2012 savings initiatives.

It should be noted that the Agency has achieved these savings: mainly through efficiencies, such as internal administrative services; as well as program changes to improve services and facilitate trade, such as implementing agreed upon changes with the provinces with respect to the delivery of certain inspection activities under provincial jurisdiction; and, more effective response to animal diseases and plant pests. The Agency has not reduced staff or cut programs that would in any way impact food safety or place the health and safety of Canadians at risk.

Spending is forecasted to remain stable from 2015-16 through to 2017-18, including the anticipated renewal of sunsetting resources. The Agency will assess the level of resources required for initiatives sunsetting in 2016-17 and 2017-18, and will seek renewal as required to maintain and continuously improve Canada's strong food safety system, and safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Section II: Analysis of Programs by Strategic Outcome

This section details the CFIA's planned activities for its strategic outcome as informed by a number of factors, including Government and Agency priorities, the Agency's Corporate Risk Profile, and the application of lessons learned. Lessons learned may be derived from a variety of sources, including: internal and external audits; internal program evaluations; stakeholder feedback and consultation; information from performance measurement (including quality management); and structured post-incident analysis following significant events such as an animal disease outbreak or a serious food safety recall. This section features key areas on which the CFIA focused its efforts during the last fiscal year.

Section II reporting at the lowest level of CFIA's Treasury Board approved Program Alignment Architecture, the Sub-Program level, was introduced in 2014-15. The CFIA worked hard to accurately align its spending plans and FTEs to meet these expanded reporting requirements. However, while preparing the 2014-15 DPR, it was noticed that some spending plans and FTEs did not properly align with the corresponding activities and amounts stated in the 2014-15 Report on Plans and Priorities. The Agency is making every effort to enable better representation in future planning exercises.

In addition, it should be noted that spending differences are not correlated to FTE differences. Many factors affected the Program and Sub-Program distribution of the substantial one-time disbursements in 2014-15 related to government-wide workforce initiatives (i.e. the cash out of accumulated severance) including employee demographics and program uptake. As a result, comparisons between program and sub-program spending and FTEs do not provide meaningful or indicative analysis of information.

Assessment of Performance Targets

Performance targets for compliance rates are qualitative or quantitative goals set by the CFIA that provide a basis for measuring the performance of regulated parties and the Agency toward achieving expected results. The targets in this report are for critical program areas and based either on historical averages of actual performance or on the expected results of effective programming (e.g. rate of industry compliance with regulatory standards). The CFIA has assessed the extent to which performance has met or exceeded established targets and provided analysis when performance has fallen below targets. Targets for programs that monitor activities are set differently than for programs that focus on specific areas of non-compliance. In terms of compliance rates, the CFIA deems a performance variance of +/- 2% (percent) to be “Met”. The methodology used in assessing the actual performance of each indicator is available on our website Endnote xix.

Mitigating risks to food safety is the CFIA's highest priority. Safeguarding the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment, and economy is the driving force behind the design and development of the CFIA's programs. The CFIA, in collaboration and partnership with industry, consumers, universities, and federal, provincial and municipal organizations, continued to work towards protecting Canadians from preventable health risks related to food and zoonotic diseases.

To support Canadian agriculture and the ability of agri-food businesses to enter domestic and global markets and compete successfully therein, the CFIA continued to develop and enforce regulatory and program frameworks for imports and exports that meet both Canadian and international requirements. To that end, the CFIA engaged in outreach and consultation activities with key stakeholders and partners (including those in industry),
consumers, and international trade and standards organizations. The CFIA thus maintained open and transparent communication with its stakeholder and consultative groups.

The CFIA also focused on several horizontal initiatives aimed at contributing to consumer protection. Over the past year, the CFIA enhanced stakeholder engagement on Agency transformation, continued to advance its food labelling modernization and transparency initiatives and to deliver on its many day to day operational activities. The day to day activities included public food recall notices and import border blitzes designed to identify and intercept imported food items that may pose a health threat to Canadians.

In April 2014, the CFIA operationalized its 16 National Centres of Operational Guidance and Expertise (NCOGEs) across Canada. Each NCOGE operates as a single window and provides consistent technical advice, interpretation, guidance and specialized knowledge to the CFIA front-line inspectors and regulated parties. NCOGEs consolidate program and administrative expertise to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, consistency and quality of service delivery.

The CFIA continued work on its 2017-18 Program Alignment Architecture (PAA) and its supporting Performance Measurement Framework (PMF). The major changes include a revised Strategic Outcome Statement, change in number of programs and a revamped Food Program that moves from a multiple commodity structure to a Single Food approach, to align with Agency transformation.

The Agricultural Growth Act received Royal Assent on February 25, 2015. The Agricultural Growth Act will modernize and strengthen federal agriculture legislation, support innovation in the Canadian agriculture industry and enhance global market opportunities for Canadians.

To successfully deliver on its Strategic Outcome, the CFIA uses a robust risk management discipline, and fosters its use throughout the Agency. As such, the CFIA continually monitors and assesses its operating environment in order to be aware of the threats and opportunities potentially impacting the achievement of its desired outcome. A cornerstone of its risk management process is the development of an Agency-wide Corporate Risk Profile (CRP).

To mitigate the risks and achieve its strategic outcome, the Agency, through the actions of its program activities (Food Safety, Animal Health and Zoonotics, Plant Resources, International Collaboration and Technical Agreements), concentrated its 2014-15 efforts on the delivery of key initiatives that support the CFIA's four priorities:

An increased focus on prevention which will provide an opportunity to minimize risks to human, animal and plant health;

An enhanced focus on service excellence that will improve CFIA effectiveness;

A focus on internal performance excellence to adapt and meet new demands and expectations; and

A focus on people who are supported by training and tools

Program 1.1: Food Safety Program

Description

The Food Safety Program aims to mitigate risks to public health associated with diseases and other health hazards in the food supply system and to manage food safety emergencies and incidents. The program achieves its objectives by promoting food safety awareness through public engagement and verification of compliance by industry with standards and science-based regulations. The program delivers initiatives to verify that consumers receive food safety and nutrition information and to mitigate unfair market practices targeting consumers and industry. Collaboration with other governments and stakeholders further enhances the Agency's ability to track, detect and mitigate risks associated with food and the food supply system, including food-borne illness. This program supports public health and instils confidence in Canada's food system.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Main Estimates

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Total Authorities Available for use

2014-15
Actual Spending (authorities used)

2014-15
Difference (actual minus planned)

320,103,652

320,982,081

448,414,176

421,520,442

100,538,361

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents — FTEs)

2014-15 Planned

2014-15 Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

2,940

3,250

310

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $100.5 million and 310 FTEs are mainly due to: incremental food safety activities funded via the 2014-15 Supplementary Estimates; as well as considerable one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and the retroactive salary settlement payments.

Additional 2014-15 resources were received from the government to: establish a Food Safety Information Network to strengthen the ability to detect and respond to food hazards; implement an enhanced food safety oversight program; and maintain a daily shift inspection presence in all federally registered meat processing establishments.

Table 2-1a: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Risks to the Canadian public associated with the food supply system are mitigated

Number of commodity areas where federally-registered establishments meet established compliance targets

The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Sub-Program did not meet its target. Enforcement action letters were issued to 6 out of 87 Registered Produce Warehouses (RPW). All the enforcement action letters were related to non-food safety issues. All corrective actions requested for each non-compliant RPW issues were met. The existing regulatory framework for the FFV sector has undergone an intensive and extensive regulatory review during the development of the proposed Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.

One recall was not posted within the 24 hour time standard due to technological issues with the Web Content Management System application that is used to publish recalls to the CFIA's website. As a result, new procedures have been established, and the Agency will continue to closely monitor the publishing of recalls to ensure the 24 hour time standard is achieved.

Dairy Sub-Program: 45 out of 313 composition sampling of imported cheese samples were not compliant for % milk fat and/or % moisture declarations on the label. There is no
health and safety risk associated with these non-compliances but misrepresentation of label information.

Fish and Seafood Sub-Program: The non-compliance refers only to imported fish and seafood products. The overall compliance rate increased to 89% from 85% last year.
The main contributor to non-compliance was sensory evaluation rejections. Sensory evaluations are performed to verify the level of fish quality (i.e. level of freshness), which few foreign countries inspect or monitor. Sensory evaluation rejections made up 43%
of the random inspection rejections and implicated 50% of the packers whose fish were found non-compliant. The products, their origin and packers vary and the compliance rate for this analysis alone is similar to last year's compliance. To address the issue, the CFIA enhanced the basic compliance verification inspections tasks for inspectors and the
verifications are expected to result in higher detections, which in turn are expected to push importers to improve their level of compliance.

Other reasons for product rejections for Fish and Seafood included bacterial contamination with Salmonella, moisture, drug residues, and misuse of additives. However, there was no trend relative to a particular product, processor, or country of origin. There is no apparent systematic problem that is causing this non-compliance.

Regulatory Modernization

In 2014-15, The CFIA continued to make progress against the Safe Food for Canadians Action Plan, launched in 2013 as a roadmap to assist the Agency in building an even stronger food safety system for Canadians. Key achievements include:

Completed drafting regulations in anticipation of the coming-into force of the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA), including the consolidation of 13 sets of existing food inspection regulations. A third round of engagement with industry has been launched, with a focus on micro and small businesses. In addition, a base suite of interpretive guidance documents has been drafted and will continue to evolve with the proposed regulations.

The Healthy and Safe Food Regulatory Forum held in June 2014 to enable external stakeholders learn about and discuss elements of the Agency's ongoing modernization. Following the Forum, the CFIA received over 400 formal submissions from stakeholders on various Agency Transformation consultation documents, contributing to the advancement of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.

Extensive engagement sessions on food labelling modernization occurred and a “What We Heard” report was published in collaboration with Health Canada. A food labelling modernization engagement summary report of the key issues was also produced.

A web-based Industry Labelling Tool was introduced, with more than 1,500 pages of labelling information and features content organized by subject. Information sessions were held to familiarize industry groups with this new resource.

Risk Based Oversight (RBO) Framework to Further Modernize Canada's Food Safety System

In 2014-15, the CFIA continued to enhance its risk-based approach to oversight activities through the continued development of a Risk Assessment (RA) Model for licensed domestic food producing establishments. The model will provide a standard and consistent tool to inform CFIA oversight decisions. The CFIA worked with scientific experts (academia), industry, and other government partners on a pilot project that
tested a preliminary version of the RA Model with 49 meat and poultry and 29 dairy establishments. A plan was developed for implementation of an expanded model that includes multiple commodities.

Continuing with Single Food Safety Regulatory Regime and Inspection Model to Support Agency Modernization

In support of the Agency's modernization agenda, the CFIA continued the implementation of its Single Food Program and corresponding new organizational design. Branch re-alignment initiatives have been completed to prepare for the delivery of regulations and enforcement activities in line with the new integrated Agency Inspection Model (iAIM). Training frameworks to support the new organizational design were developed.

The iAIM was finalized in 2014-15 and implementation of some components of the model has begun. The iAIM sets out a standardized inspection process, bringing a level of consistency to the inspection process across business lines and commodities.

Enhancing Detection and Responsiveness to Food-Borne Incidents

In 2014-15, Treasury Board approved funding for the Canadian Food Safety Information Network (CFSIN), an initiative that will improve Canada's ability to anticipate, detect and respond to food-borne threats and hazards. This Network will connect food safety authorities and
laboratories. Using a secure web platform, the network will share surveillance information and food safety data on a regular basis as well as during food safety investigations and emergencies.

Over the past year, a governance and organizational structure was established for CFSIN and federal and provincial partners have been engaged.

Leveraging Social Media to Communicate about Food Safety

To continue to better inform Canadians about food safety, including recalls or other incidents, the CFIA published approximately 1,000 food recalls and allergy alerts through our Facebook and Twitter accounts. The Agency used social media to communicate recalls and allergy alerts as they happen - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

The CFIA proactively published over 200 tweets and 180 Facebook food safety outreach postings on topics such as: safe food handling and storage, food safety around the holidays, food allergens and food safety for vulnerable populations. The Agency continued to collaborate with portfolio partners by sharing information on food safety and further increasing the reach of messaging.

E-mail alerts were also sent for each recall and alert to over 50,000 listserv subscribers on the Food Recall and Allergy Alert e-mail subscription list.

National Centres of Operational Guidance and Expertise for Enhanced Program Delivery

In 2014-15, the CFIA launched the operation of the National Centres of Operational Guidance and Expertise, aimed at improving program support and interpretation functions, increasing consistency in the advice, guidance and direction provided to the inspectorate and centralizing the subject matter expertise within a single Branch.

Sub-Program 1.1.1: Meat and Poultry

Description

The Meat and Poultry sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with meat and poultry and their products that are produced in Canada's federally registered establishments or imported for consumption. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that meat, poultry and their products meet health and safety requirements through verification of compliance with the relevant governing acts and regulations. The program also helps to mitigate unfair market practices related to labelling compliance for pre-packaged meat products, and audits the delivery of a grading program based on objective meat quality and retail yield standards. The Meat and Poultry sub-program supports confidence in Canada's meat and poultry and their products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

169,053,246

241,204,021

72,150,775

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

1,599

1,832

233

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $72.2 million and 233 FTEs are mainly due to the renewal of funding to support food safety priorities, such as the maintenance of increased frequency of food inspections in meat processing establishments and the continuation of a comprehensive strategy for managing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. In addition, the Agency incurred one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Percentage of tested imported meat and poultry products
in compliance with federal regulations

95%

99.6%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Modernized Slaughter Inspection Program (MSIP)

In 2014-15, as part of the Modernized Slaughter Inspection Program, the CFIA collaborated with the University of Montreal to develop a risk assessment report on the incision of mandibular lymph nodes of pork. The first phase of updates to the disposition catalogues was also completed.

Administrative Monetary Penalties to Strengthen Food Inspection

To further strengthen Canada's food inspection system, the final regulatory amendment to implement Administrative Monetary Penalties under the Meat Inspection Act and Regulations was published in the Canada Gazette II in 2014-15.

Supporting Market Access to the USA for Meat

In 2014-15, the CFIA collaborated with its American counterparts of the Beyond the Border (BtB) and Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) initiatives to re-confirm equivalence status of the Canadian and US meat inspection systems, to publish a meat cut manual to harmonize Canadian and US meat nomenclature and to develop a joint meat work plan with the US Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Enhancing the Pathogen Reduction Initiative

As part of the Pathogen Reduction Initiative, aimed at decreasing the health risk impact of foodborne pathogens in Canadian meat and poultry, a technical report on a Microbiological Baseline Study for poultry was completed. Industry stakeholders and FPT partners have been engaged throughout and were informed of the results of the baseline study. Two baselines studies were designed and pilot studies commenced for the beef component of the initiative.

Sub-Program 1.1.2: Egg

Description

The Egg sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with egg and egg products that are produced in Canada's federally registered establishments or imported for consumption. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that eggs and egg products are graded according to relevant governing acts and regulations and that they comply with the requirements of the said acts and regulations. The program also helps to mitigate unfair market practices by verifying that labelling and advertising practices meet the requirements for pre-packaged egg products. This sub-program supports confidence in Canada's egg and egg products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

8,441,751

10,660,299

2,218,548

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

82

81

(1)

The increase from Planned to Actual Spending of $2.2 million is mainly due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments, while FTEs in the Egg program remained stable.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Partnering to Manage Avian Influenza (AI) Outbreaks

The Egg Program and the sector were affected by Avian Influenza (AI) outbreaks that occurred in British Columbia, Canada and in five northwestern states (California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) of the United States between December 2014 and January 2015. CFIA's Food and Animal Health Business Lines as well as trading partners worked together to manage the outbreaks and minimize the spread of the virus and any potential effect to human health.

Sub-Program 1.1.3: Dairy

Description

The Dairy sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with dairy and dairy products that are produced in Canada's federally registered establishments or imported for consumption. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that dairy and dairy products meet health and safety requirements through verification of compliance with the governing acts and regulations. The program also helps to mitigate unfair market practices by verifying that labelling for pre-packaged dairy products meets the requirements as set out in the acts and regulations. This sub-program supports confidence in Canada's dairy products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

10,912,842

16,996,559

6,083,717

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

111

131

20

The increase from Planned to Actual Spending of $6.1 million is partially due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and the retroactive salary settlement payments.

The CFIA worked hard to accurately align its spending plans and FTEs to meet the expanded reporting requirements introduced in 2014-15. However, while preparing the 2014-15 DPR, it was noticed that some spending plans and FTEs, including the FTEs of the Dairy sub-program, did not properly align with the corresponding activities and amounts.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Table Notes

Table Note 8

45 out of 313 Composition sampling of imported cheese samples were not compliant for % milk fat and/or % moisture declarations on the label. There is no health and safety risk associated with these non-compliances but misrepresentation of label information.

12 out of 291 of dairy samples were unsatisfactory for microbiology. Imported cheese found to be non-compliant for microbiology are placed on directed sampling until 10 consecutive lots are found to be satisfactory. Products tested for microbiology are typically held by the importer until results are received to avoid recalls due to unsatisfactory results.

The CFIA takes appropriate actions when dairy products do not meet Canadian standards. Actions may include, but are not limited to, additional inspections, further directed sampling, or product seizure and/or recall.

Supporting Market Access for Dairy Products

In 2014-15, the CFIA continued to support market access for Canadian dairy producers. An audit of Canada's Dairy Program, conducted by China's Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), allowed for the Chinese market to remain open to Canadian producers. In March 2015, Algeria accepted CFIA's proposal and a certification process for dairy products being exported to Algeria was established and the first certificate issued in April 2015.

Sub-Program 1.1.4: Fish and Seafood

Description

The Fish and Seafood sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with fish and seafood products processed in Canada's federally registered establishments or imported for consumption. It achieves its objectives by developing product and process standards and ensuring that products, importers and domestic industry comply with quality, safety and identity of fish and seafood requirements through verification of compliance with the governing acts and regulations. This sub-program supports confidence in Canada's fish and seafood products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

43,593,686

60,159,985

16,566,299

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

406

433

27

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $16.6 million and 27 FTEs are mainly due to incremental funding provided to the Agency for the implementation of an enhanced food safety oversight program. In addition, actual spending included one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Table Notes

Table Note 9

The non-compliance refers only to imported fish and seafood products. The overall compliance rate increased to 89% from 85% last year. The main contributor to non- compliance was sensory evaluation rejections. Sensory evaluations are performed to verify the level of fish quality (i.e. level of freshness), which few foreign countries inspect or monitor. Sensory evaluation rejections made up 43% of the random inspection rejections and implicated 50% of the packers whose fish were found non-compliant. The products, their origin and packers vary and the compliance rate for this analysis alone is similar to last year's compliance. The CFIA enhanced the basic compliance verification inspection tasks for inspectors and the verifications are expected to result in higher detections, which in turn are expected to push importers to improve their level of compliance.

Other reasons for product rejections for Fish and Seafood included bacterial contamination with Salmonella, moisture, drug residues, and misuse of additives. However, there was no trend relative to a particular product, processor, or country of origin. There is no apparent systematic problem that is causing this non-compliance.

Supporting Market Access for Fish and Seafood

In 2014-15, the CFIA continued to support market access for Canadian producers through the maintenance of fish and shellfish trade agreements. Activities included the advancement of trade issues with China's Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) Fish and Seafood Working Group, as well as with the European Union's Directorate General for Health and Consumers (SANCO).

An emergency plan was established in response to the unanticipated Russian embargo on Canadian meat and seafood exports. Through regular active engagement with the Canadian fish industry, the vast majority of the embargoed containers of products in-transit to Russia found alternative markets, thereby minimizing industry losses.

Systems-Based Fish Export Certification in Support of Inspection Modernization

To support enhancements to export certification controls for fish and seafood exports, manuals for inspectors were updated and published and a revised systems-based approach to issue fish export certificates is being developed.

Sub-Program 1.1.5: Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Description

The Fresh Fruit and Vegetables sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with fresh fruits and vegetables and their products produced in Canada or imported for consumption. It achieves its objectives by verifying that products meet all stipulated health and safety requirements through verification of compliance with the relevant governing acts and regulations. This sub-program mitigates unfair market practices by verifying that labelling and net quantity requirements for pre-packaged Fresh Fruit and Vegetable products are adhered to. This sub-program supports confidence in Canada's fresh fruit and vegetable products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

24,814,290

27,078,567

2,264,277

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

217

221

4

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $2.3 million and 4 FTEs are mainly due to incremental funding provided to the Agency for implementation of an enhanced food safety oversight program. As well, actual spending includes one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Table Notes

Table Note 10

This performance indicator target was not met. Enforcement action letters were issued to 6 out of 87 Registered Produce Warehouses (RPW). All the enforcement action letters were related to non-food safety issues. All corrective actions requested for each non- compliant RPW issues were met. The existing regulatory framework for the FFV sector
has undergone an intensive and extensive regulatory review during the development of the proposed Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.

To mitigate food safety risks associated with fresh fruits and vegetables, the CFIA pursued new inspection and oversight activities as part of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Modernization initiative, including the completion of Part II of a technical review of CanadaGAP, a private food safety certification program, as well as the development
of a plan for conducting non-meat foreign country assessments. A Code of Practice for Minimally Processed Fresh Fruits and Vegetables was completed and the Agency engaged in outreach activities with the Canadian Produce Marketing Association and the Canadian Horticultural Council.

Sub-Program 1.1.6: Processed Products

Description

The Processed Products sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with processed products, including honey and maple products, which are produced in Canada or imported for consumption. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that processed products comply with health and food safety requirements through verification of compliance with the relevant governing acts and regulations. This sub-program minimizes unfair market practices by verifying that labelling and net quantity requirements for pre-packaged processed products are adhered to. The program supports confidence in Canada's processed products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

11,201,144

11,409,006

207,682

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

102

97

(5)

The increase from Planned to Actual Spending of $0.2 million is mainly one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

The CFIA worked hard to accurately align its spending plans and FTEs to meet the expanded reporting requirements introduced in 2014-15. However, while preparing the 2014-15 DPR, it was noticed that some spending plans and FTEs, including the FTEs of the Processed Products sub-program, may not have properly aligned with the corresponding activities and amounts.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Regulatory Modernization for Maple Syrup Products

In 2014-15, the CFIA amended the Maple Products Regulations in order to facilitate the trade of maple syrup with the United States and reduce consumer confusion on maple syrup grades and colour classes. The amendments standardize different grades and colour classes of maple syrup and create a harmonized definition and grading system between the United States and Canada. The changes do not impact food safety regulations or food safety monitoring for pure maple syrup. The introduction of production codes and/or lot numbers will assist the CFIA and the industry in confirming the removal of potentially unsafe maple syrup from the market. Industry has two years to transition to the new regulations.

Sub-Program 1.1.7: Imported and Manufactured Food Products

Description

The Imported and Manufactured Food Products sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with food commodities that are regulated by the relevant governing acts and regulations. The CFIA and provincial/territorial governments share the jurisdiction over IMFP because the sector includes a large variety of foods that are traded intra- provincially or inter-provincially. This program achieves its objectives by verifying that
these products comply with the health, food safety, and consumer protection requirements. The program mitigates unfair market practices by verifying that requirements related to net quantity, composition, claims, labelling, and advertising of these foods are adhered
to and by enforcing the governing acts and regulations. Through enforcement of the acts and regulations, the program supports confidence in Canada's imported and manufactured food products.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

52,965,122

54,012,005

1,046,883

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

423

455

32

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $1.0 million and 32 FTEs are mainly due to incremental funding provided to the Agency for the implementation of an enhanced food safety oversight program. In addition, actual spending includes one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Table 2-1h: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Risks to the Canadian public associated with imported and manufactured food (IMF) products are mitigated

Percentage of major health risks in the imported and manufactured food sector that are addressed through the annual update to food safety inspection programs

95%

100%

Met

Risks to the Canadian public associated with imported and manufactured food (IMF) products are mitigated

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Regulatory Modernization for Imported and Manufactured Food Products

In 2014-15, the requirements for the Imported Food Sector Products Regulations were integrated into the overarching draft Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) to ensure industry readiness and convergence. Interpretive guidance was completed for the import and export-related provisions of the SFCRs and a step-by-step guide was developed for small importers to assist in understanding and meeting the proposed preventive control plan requirements under the SFCR. A checklist was developed for small importers, to be used to assess their readiness for these regulations.

Program 1.2: Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Description

The Animal Health and Zoonotics Program aims to mitigate risks to Canada's animal resource base, animal feeds and animal products, which are integral to a safe and accessible food supply system as well as to public health. The program achieves its objectives by mitigating risks to Canada's animals (including livestock and aquatic animals) from regulated diseases, managing animal disease emergencies and incidents, limiting risks to livestock and derived food products associated with feed, promoting animal welfare and guarding against deliberate threats to the animal resource base. The program helps to mitigate risks associated with animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans by controlling diseases within animal populations. This program supports the health of Canada's animal resources and instils confidence in the safety of Canada's animals, animal products and by-products, and production systems.

Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Main Estimates

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Total Authorities Available for use

2014-15
Actual Spending (authorities used)

2014-15
Difference (actual minus planned)

89,781,512

90,674,321

164,128,295

162,039,970

71,365,649

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents — FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

801

1,012

211

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $71.4 million and 211 FTEs are mainly due to: the renewal of funding to support BSE activities; considerable one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary
settlement payments; the realignment of resources to address the Avian Influenza outbreak; and, an increase in statutory compensation payments.

Table 2-2a: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Risks to Canadians from the transmission of
animal diseases to humans are minimized

Number of reportable animal diseases that have entered into Canada via specified regulated pathways

0

0

Met

Risks to Canadians from the transmission of
animal diseases to humans are minimized

Percentage of cases where investigations were completed following the positive identification of a reportable zoonotic disease

100%

100%

Met

Domestic and imported animals and
animal products are compliant with Canadian regulations and international agreements

Number of emergency preparedness simulation exercises in which CFIA participates

9

23

Met

Disease outbreaks in Canada are promptly and effectively responded to

Percentage of detections of reportable transboundary diseases and significant emerging diseases in which an investigation was commenced in a timely fashion

100%

100%

Met

Disease outbreaks in Canada are promptly and effectively responded to

Percentage of cases where CFIA communicated with key stakeholders in a timely fashion following the confirmation of a transboundary or significant emerging disease

100%

100%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Table Notes

Table Note 11

The manual updates were not completed because Agency human resources were diverted to respond to BSE, AI and ISA emergencies. However, updates to the BSE Manual were initiated late in the fiscal year and are still underway. Also undergoing updates are: Cervid Movement Permit Manual of Procedures, and the following Hazard Specific Plans: infectious haematopoietic necrosis, infection with Haplosporidium nelsoni, and viral haemorrhagic septicaemia.

Completed a livestock movement study to support further regulatory option analysis; and

Started consultations to amend the Health of Animals Regulations.

The CFIA improved livestock data management by enhancing the Traceability National Information Portal (TNIP) with the addition of Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities and Prince Edward Island premises. In addition, an agreement to share livestock traceability data was signed with Ontario.

Leveraging Relationships to Control Disease Outbreaks

The CFIA expanded the Canada-U.S. Zoning Agreement by developing a guidance document to implement the 2012 arrangement recognizing highly contagious foreign animal disease control and eradication zones. This was one of the 29 initiatives included in the Joint Action Plan completed for the RCC where Canada and the U.S. will seek greater alignment in their regulatory approaches over the coming two years.

Footnotes

Sub-Program 1.2.1: Terrestrial Animal Health

Description

The Terrestrial Animal Health sub-program aims to prevent the entry of reportable, foreign animal diseases and the spread of reportable domestic animal diseases as set out in the relevant governing acts and regulations. This sub-program achieves its objectives by delivering initiatives that track, detect, and mitigate risks to the terrestrial animal resource base. This sub-program supports food safety, public health, and protection of the animal resource base, and instils national and international confidence in Canadian agricultural products. Through verification of compliance, this sub-program supports domestic and international confidence that Canada's animals are free from certain reportable diseases, particularly those potentially transmissible to humans. This program uses funding from the following transfer payment: Statutory Compensation Payments.

During the preparation of the 2014-15 RPP a computation inaccuracy was discovered in the distribution of Planned Spending and FTEs to the Sub-Programs of Animal Health and Zoonotic Program. As a result, the Planned Spending and FTEs have been restated to provide a more accurate representation of the
in-year change in Terrestrial Animal Health from plans to actuals.

During the preparation of the 2014-15 RPP a computation inaccuracy was discovered in the distribution of Planned Spending and FTEs to the Sub-Programs of Animal Health and Zoonotic Program. As a result, the Planned Spending and FTEs have been restated to provide a more accurate representation of the in-year change in Terrestrial Animal Health from plans to actuals.

The increases from Planned to Actual Spending of $68.6 million and 216 FTEs are mainly due to: the renewal of funding for the continuation of a comprehensive strategy for BSE. Actual spending also includes one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Percentage of inspected live loads in compliance with humane transport standards

100%

98%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Continued Improvements to the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Program

With renewed Treasury Board (TB) funding in 2014-15, the Agency continued to engage partners and stakeholders to review Canada's BSE programming and began communicating the Canadian long-term approach to BSE disease control.

Canada made significant efforts over the past decade to attain a Negligible BSE risk status. However, with the identification of a cow with BSE in February 2015 in Alberta, which had a birth year of 2009, Canada became ineligible to apply for the Negligible BSE risk status at the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as had been planned for 2015.

Avian Influenza (AI) Containment

In 2014-15, during the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, the CFIA further increased collaboration with the poultry industry and improved zoning level practices required to control this virus strain. Key trading partners recognized the zones and trade continued from areas outside of the control zones. The lessons learned from this outbreak were used to enhance the training of staff involved in these responses, thus improving preventive measures to ensure animal health and preparedness in Canada.

As part of an ongoing surveillance program, Canadian Notifiable Avian Influenza Surveillance System (CanNAISS), the CFIA conducted activities to provide evidence that Canadian commercial poultry flocks are free of notifiable avian influenza. The CFIA further enhanced the security of poultry flocks by supporting the Canadian Wildlife Health Centre in the detection of avian influenza in wild birds.

Partnering for Efficiencies

To improve efficiencies in dealing with animal diseases, the CFIA collaborated with the provinces and the Ontario College of Veterinarians to create a decision tool that identifies new emerging or re-emerging diseases and the authority responsible to respond to the threat. The tool was presented to the National Farmed Animal Health & Welfare Council (NFAHWC). Additionally, the CFIA began preparations to implement and validate the electronic monitoring of reported adverse reactions to veterinary vaccines and drugs, with final roll out to stakeholders targeted for the end of 2015-2016.

The CFIA contributed to the development of the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System (CAHSS), which is a new FPT and industry initiative for animal health surveillance. CAHSS will strengthen animal health surveillance, enable strategic use of technology, and enhance Canada's ability to respond to animal health emergencies.

Regulatory Modernization

In 2014-15, the CFIA proposed amendments to the Health of Animals Regulations in an effort to modernize the animal humane transportation provisions. The revisions would:

Amendments to the Hatchery Regulations were proposed to consolidate the requirements for operating licensed poultry hatchery establishments in Canada into one regulation under the Health of Animals Act. The amendments to the Health of Animals Act are moving towards pre-publication in Canada Gazette I.

Sub-Program 1.2.2: Aquatic Animal Health

Description

The Aquatic Animal Health sub-program aims to mitigate risks associated with the introduction and spread of certain aquatic animal diseases of concern to Canada. This program achieves its objectives by partnering with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to deliver on initiatives that track, detect and control aquatic animal diseases as set out in the relevant governing acts and regulations. Through verification of compliance, this sub-program supports domestic and international confidence that Canada's aquatic animal resources
are free from aquatic animal diseases, and contributes to the sustainable productivity of aquaculture and harvest fisheries. This program uses funding from the following transfer payment: Statutory Compensation Payments.

During the preparation of the 2014-15 RPP a computation inaccuracy was discovered in the distribution of Planned Spending and FTEs to the Sub-Programs of Animal Health and Zoonotic Program. As a result, the Planned Spending and FTEs have been restated to provide a more accurate representation of the
in-year change in Aquatic Animal Health from plans to actuals.

During the preparation of the 2014-15 RPP a computation inaccuracy was discovered in the distribution of Planned Spending and FTEs to the Sub-Programs of Animal Health and Zoonotic Program. As a result, the Planned Spending and FTEs have been restated to provide a more accurate representation of the
in-year change in Aquatic Animal Health from plans to actuals.

The increase from Planned to Actual Spending of $0.2 million is mainly due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments, while FTE remained stable.

Table 2-2c: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Domestic aquatic animals and their products are compliant with Canadian regulations and meet the standards of international agreements

Number of reportable aquatic animal diseases that have entered into Canada via specified regulated pathways

0

0

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Strengthening the Aquatic Animal Program

To support the development and protection of the domestic aquatic animal resource base, the CFIA continued to phase in the implementation of the Domestic Movement Control Program (DMCP) for aquatic animals and the information management component of the Domestic Movement Import Permit System (DMIPS). In 2014-15, the CFIA completed the final phase towards the implementation of the DMCP and its associated Train-the Trainer sessions, which are now awaiting final approval. The CFIA has developed the information component of the DMIPS and it is awaiting implementation. Both DMCP and DMIPS aim to control the risks associated with the movement of aquatic animals, their genetic components, and carcasses within Canada.

Partnering to Strengthen Surveillance

In 2014-15, the CFIA completed an epidemiological analysis of existing surveillance activities in British Columbia farmed salmon and actively engaged in various stages of collaborative surveillance activities with eight provinces targeting both finfish and shellfish stocks.

In partnership with industry and government, the CFIA designed and delivered an active surveillance program that requires sampling only where gaps exist in the data. This approach decreased the overall requirements for testing and its associated costs, while still providing the information required to support strong import controls, export certification, and provide evidence for national declarations of health status.

Strengthening Trade Relations and Market Access

In 2014-15, the Agency conducted trade certificate negotiations with a number of large trading partners.

Exports: Aquatic Animal Health export certificates to facilitate market access for Canadian products were negotiated or renegotiated for the following countries and commodities: Ukraine (live crustaceans and frozen fishery products for food for human consumption); China (mollusc seed for culture in China); Turkey (ornamental animals for display; joint food and aquatic animal health certificate for fishery products for human consumption); South Korea, and Indonesia (molluscs for human consumption ); and the U.S.A. (live finfish for culture, stock and enhancement and uneviscerated for any use (including research, and further processing).

Imports: At the request of Canadian importers, initiated negotiations to access live and dead aquatic animals and products from various European Union (EU) Member States (including Denmark, France, Germany, Czech Republic and United Kingdom) for end uses of culture, further processing for human consumption, ornamental display, research and education in Canada. The CFIA worked with Chile to facilitate import market access to mollusc's seed for culture.

Additionally, a bilateral agreement with the U.S. was reached to implement the U.S. Food Service/Retail Use Certification Program for the import of live aquatic animals into Canada.

Sub-Program 1.2.3: Feed

Description

The Feed sub-program aims to minimize risks associated with livestock and poultry feeds manufactured in or imported into Canada. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that feeds are safe, effective and labelled in accordance with the relevant governing acts and regulations. This sub-program contributes to the production and
maintenance of a healthy and sustainable animal resource base which supports food safety and environmental sustainability. Through verification of compliance, this sub-program supports confidence in feed manufactured in Canada.

During the preparation of the 2014-15 RPP a computation inaccuracy was discovered in the distribution of Planned Spending and FTEs to the Sub-Programs of Animal Health and Zoonotic Program. As a result, the Planned Spending and FTEs have been restated to provide a more accurate representation of the
in-year change in Feed from plans to actuals.

During the preparation of the 2014-15 RPP a computation inaccuracy was discovered in the distribution of Planned Spending and FTEs to the Sub-Programs of Animal Health and Zoonotic Program. As a result, the Planned Spending and FTEs have been restated to provide a more accurate representation of the in-year change in Feed from plans to actuals.

The increase from Planned to Actual Spending of $2.5 million is mainly due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments, while FTEs remained relatively stable.

Table 2-2d: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Feed establishments meet federal regulations

Percentage of inspected feed establishments in compliance with Feeds Regulations and Health of Animals Regulations (Feed Ban), after follow-up, not including labelling tasks

95%

95.2%

Met

Feed labels meet federal regulations

Percentage of inspected feed facilities in compliance with Feeds Regulations and Health of Animals Regulations (Feed Ban), after follow-up, when assessed against inspection tasks associated with labelling

95%

95.8%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Regulatory Modernization for Feed

In 2014-15, the CFIA continued to lead the Feed Regulatory Renewal aimed at aligning the Agency with industry advancements in feed technology. Feedback was received from stakeholders (the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada, various producer groups, and individual feed producers or farmers) regarding three regulatory proposals (feed ingredient assessment and authorization, feed labelling, and feed hazard identification and preventive controls). A comprehensive consolidated framework proposal for consultation was begun, as was preparation of regulatory drafting instructions.

Supporting Market Access

In response to an audit conducted by the European Union and to increase overall market access, the CFIA worked to ensure that exported meat remains protected from feed containing banned additives. To accomplish this, the Canadian Ractopamine-Free Certification Programs for the Pork and Poultry sectors were finalised. These Programs identify the requirements for feed manufacturing, as well as animal production and slaughter for participating facilities. Tools were developed to support the CFIA's inspection activities at a sample of the feed manufacturing and retail facilities enrolled in the program. Inspection activities to provide government oversight at a sample of commercial and on-farm feed facilities were developed.

Enhancing Efficiencies

On July 4, 2014, the CFIA merged the application offices of livestock feeds together with veterinary biologics and plant-related products, providing stakeholders with a single point for submitting applications for products requiring a CFIA pre-market approval. The new Pre-market Applications Submissions Office (PASO) will increase consistency and efficiency in the delivery and administration of pre-market application requests.

Efforts were made to further assist stakeholders with their feed-related submissions. Clarification of guidance pertaining to international labels was submitted for publication, a “Guidance document on classification of veterinary drugs and livestock feeds,” produced jointly with Health Canada, was published. Pre-market submission consultations were held with various industry members to provide specific guidance.

Additionally, the Feed program continued to monitor service standards for the pre-market review of feeds and report to industry via the Canadian Animal Health Products Regulatory Advisory Committee. The Pre-market Applications Submissions Office identified and implemented efficiencies in the receiving and handling of feed pre-market applications.

To improve consistency in verifying that industry is complying with Feed safety regulations and policies, the Compliance Verification System approach for both the Complaint and Residue Traceback Inspection Programs were implemented by the Animal Feed Division.

Program 1.3: Plant Resources Program

Description

The Plant Resources Program aims to mitigate risks to Canada's plant resource base, which is integral to a safe and accessible food supply, as well as to public health
and environmental sustainability. The program achieves its objectives by regulating agricultural and forestry products; mitigating risks to the plant resource base (including crops and forests) from regulated pests and diseases; regulating the safety and integrity of seeds, fertilizers and plant products; and managing plant health emergencies and incidents. The program also guards against deliberate threats to the plant resource base, facilitates the introduction of emerging plant technologies and protects the rights of plant breeders. Achieving the objectives of the program instils confidence in Canada's plants, plant production systems and plant products, and contributes to the health of Canada's plant resources.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Main Estimates

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15 Total Authorities Available for use

2014-15
Actual Spending (authorities used)

2014-15
Difference (actual minus planned)

75,006,452

75,532,299

90,020,456

90,262,195

14,729,896

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents — FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

771

737

(34)

The increase from planned to actual spending of $14.7 million is mainly due to: considerable one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments; and, an increase in statutory compensation payments. The decrease of 34 FTEs is mainly due to the realignment of resources to support higher risk activities in the Agency.

Table 2-3a: Performance Results

Expected Results

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Risks to the Canadian plant resource base from imported plants and plant products are mitigated

Number of regulated foreign plant pests that enter into Canada through regulated pathways and establish themselves

0

0

Met

Domestic plants and plant products are compliant with Canadian regulations and international agreements

Percentage of domestic seed, crop inputs and plants with novel traits in compliance with Canadian regulations and international agreements

90%

98%

Met

Confirmed introductions of quarantine pests in
Canada are contained and risk- mitigated (e.g. through the issuance of Notices of Prohibition of Movement, Quarantine, up to and including the issuance of Ministerial Orders)

Percentage of confirmed introductions of quarantine pests for which notices are issued

100%

100%

Met

Confirmed introductions of quarantine pests in
Canada are contained and risk- mitigated (e.g. through the issuance of Notices of Prohibition of Movement, Quarantine, up to and including the issuance of Ministerial Orders)

Percentage of notices issued in a timely manner

90%

100%

Met

Canadian exports of plants and plant products meet the country of destination regulatory phytosanitary import requirements and Canada's reputation is maintained

Percentage of certified plants and plant products shipment (lots) that meet the country of destination phytosanitary import requirements

99%

99.7%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Regulatory Modernization

The Agricultural Growth Act, Bill C-18, received royal assent on February 25, 2015. By Order in Council, as of February 27, 2015, all of the CFIA sections, except one, are now in force. The Act modernizes and strengthens federal agriculture legislation, supports innovation in the Canadian agriculture industry and enhances global market opportunities for Canadians. In addition, the Plant Breeder Rights Office can now receive applications and grant rights under an International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV'91) based intellectual property framework.

Extensive consultations occurred on the approved integrated Agency Inspection Model (iAIM), which aims for a consistent inspection approach across all CFIA business lines and commodities. During 2014-15, Plant Business Line participated in working groups to ensure the Plant specific perspectives were captured in the revised inspection model.

Sub-Program 1.3.1: Plant Protection

Description

The Plant Protection sub-program aims to mitigate the risks associated with the introduction and spread of plant pests of quarantine significance to Canada. This sub- program achieves its objectives by delivering initiatives that track, detect and control, or eradicate regulated plant pests and diseases as set out in the relevant governing acts and regulations. The program verifies that plants and plant products, and their associated risk pathways, meet phytosanitary requirements. Through verification of compliance, this sub- program supports environmental sustainability, and public health and instils confidence in Canada's plants and plant products. This program uses funding from the following transfer payment: Statutory Compensation Payments.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

60,394,896

72,539,144

12,144,248

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

627

589

(38)

The increase from planned to actual spending of $12.1 million is mainly due to: one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments; and, an increase in statutory compensation payments. The decrease of 38 FTEs is mainly due to the realignment of resources to support higher risk activities in the Agency.

Table 2-3b: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Pre-border plant pest risks are mitigated

Percentage of inspected shipments from off-shore system approaches or pre- clearance programs in compliance with federal regulations

85%

96%

Met

At-Border plant pest risks are mitigated

Percentage of pre-arrival documentation in compliance with Canadian import requirements

90%

99.9%

Met

Post-border plant pest risks are mitigated

Percentage of new pest detections that have a science based management plan initiated within one year

90%

N/A
No new pest detections

N/A
No new pest detections

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Efforts Against Pests

Significant efforts were made to manage Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM), a non-native to North America. The problem emerges from egg masses laid on ships and dispersing to land
areas surrounding ports in North America. CFIA suspects that AGM arrives in Canada on vessels from regulated ports in far eastern Asia.

Domestically, to increase the focus on the prevention of the spread of the AGM, communication with the shipping industry increased to provide additional information and educational tools to assist with AGM detection and removal prior to arriving Canada.

Through the Beyond the Border initiative, a joint CFIA-U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report was completed, to identify the best methods to mitigate the risk of spreading the AGM at the point of origin. To minimize the incursion of the AGM to North America via ocean crossings on vessels, the CFIA continued to work with the U.S., Mexico, Chile, New Zealand and other countries to expand the Asian Gypsy Moth vessel certification program.

The CFIA implemented the directive on phytosanitary requirements to prevent the introduction of plants regulated as pests in Canada. To increase awareness and minimize risks to the ecosystem, subsequent directives to prevent introduction and spread of potentially injurious organisms were developed in 2014-15.

The CFIA continued to communicate compliance requirements to importers and sellers of ornamental, traditional medicine and food, regarding invasive plants used in their businesses. The CFIA continued to develop and publish information bulletins focusing on preventing the introduction of invasive plants. Following detection of Potato Wart in PEI in 2014, the CFIA implemented the Potato Wart long-term management plan which included quarantine controls, mandatory cleaning and disinfection requirements and
prohibitions on the movement of soil and potato material. As a result of this rapid response, trade disruption was minimized and the USDA-APHIS did not implement any additional trade restrictions.

Sub-Program 1.3.2: Seed

Description

The Seed sub-program aims to ensure that seeds sold in Canada meet established standards, that seeds are properly represented in the marketplace and that most agricultural crop kinds are registered before entering the marketplace. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that seeds meet quality, biosafety, labelling and registration standards as set out in the relevant governing acts and regulations. Regulating the environmental release of plants with novel traits contributes to environmental sustainability and the health and safety of Canadians. Furthermore, quality assured and accurately labelled seeds contribute to a prosperous agricultural production system and to domestic and international confidence in Canada's seeds.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

10,124,891

11,731,673

1,606,782

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

98

103

5

The increase from planned to actual spending of $1.6 million is mainly due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments. The increase of FTEs is mainly due to increased demand for CFIA seed related sample processing, analyses and inspections resulting from a larger crop
in 2013 than the annual average and the coming into effect of the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act.

Percentage of authorized confined releases of Plants with Novel Traits (PNTs) into the Canadian environment that are in compliance with the authorized conditions

90%

98.0%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Partnering with Industry for Alternative Service Delivery

The CFIA worked with authorized service providers to carry out Seed crop inspection activities. Using authorized service providers gives growers increased flexibility and choice. The CFIA continues to maintain an oversight and audit role to ensure the effectiveness of the overall program. In 2014-15, private entities inspected approximately 89 percent of the pedigreed seed crops grown in Canada while the CFIA inspectors inspected the other 11 percent. Twenty four authorized seed crop inspection services (ASCIS) were licensed and 288 individuals were licensed to conduct seed crop inspection. Out of the 288 individuals, 150 private and CFIA's own seed crop inspectors were trained by the CFIA in 2014-5 for check-inspections and audit while the other 138 were either trained the previous year or were ex-CFIA inspectors who did not require training.

At the end of the season, surveys were distributed to ASCIS, LSCI, seed growers, seed companies and CFIA inspectors to evaluate the implementation of ASD of seed crop inspection. An industry advisory group and an information management working group were established as results of the survey to identify priorities for improvement and recommend solutions.

The CFIA monitored the implementation of alternative service delivery (ASD) of seed crop inspection by check-inspecting 10 percent of all the fields inspected by licensed seed crop inspectors (LSCI) and auditing each ASCIS at the end of the inspection season.

Increasing Service to Meet Grain Surge Demands

The CFIA facilitated grain exports during the huge grain surge in 2014-15 by increasing its capacity in regional offices and laboratories to maintain and improve service
delivery. The CFIA shortened sample analysis time; implemented sample tracking systems for submissions and reporting; delivered all requests for ship inspections and maintained its service standards for issuance of phytosanitory certificates to the overall satisfaction of the grain industry.

Sub-Program 1.3.3: Fertilizer

Description

The Fertilizer sub-program aims to ensure that regulated fertilizer, fertilizer/pesticides and supplement products sold in Canada are properly labelled, effective and safe for humans, plants, animals, and the environment. The program achieves its objectives by verifying that all fertilizers and supplements meet the standards for safety and efficacy as set out in the relevant governing acts and regulations. Through verification of compliance, the program contributes to public health and environmental sustainability and supports domestic and international confidence in fertilizers manufactured in Canada.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

4,101,579

4,213,788

112,209

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

38

36

(2)

The increase from planned to actual spending of $0.1 million is mainly due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments, while FTEs remained relatively stable.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Table Notes

Table Note 19

During the 2014-15 fiscal year, the Fertilizer Safety Section (FSS) did not meet published service delivery standards (SDS) for file reviews. The percentage of files reviewed within service delivery standards has decreased from 82% in the 2013/14 fiscal year to 61% in 2014/15. This is because the CFIA no longer regulates product efficacy. As such, applicants who were previously unable to substantiate product performance or meet the minimum quality standards can now obtain registration as long as their product is determined to be safe. As a result, the complexity of product formulations (multiple active ingredients) has increased, rendering safety reviews more scientifically demanding and time-consuming to complete. The CFIA continued to pro-actively communicate the delays to impacted applicants and implemented an action plan in an effort to bring file reviews timelines back to the service delivery standards.

Regulatory Modernization for Fertilizer and Reorganization of the Sector

The CFIA continued the drafting of proposed amendments to the Fertilizer Regulations. The proposed changes are intended to align regulatory oversight with the risk profile of the product and facilitate access of Canadian agricultural producers to safe and innovative fertilizers and supplements.

The CFIA continued to inform stakeholders about the measures the Agency will be taking to strengthen the fertilizer file assessment capacity. The CFIA communicated to
stakeholders the importance of completing submissions to a high quality in order to shorten the assessment times.

User Fees Modernization for the Fertilizer Sector

The development of the new user fee structure for fertilizers and supplements was incorporated into the overall Agency user fees modernization and strategy to align the independent fertilizers and supplements user fee modernization with the Agency's User Fee modernization and strategy timelines.

Sub-Program 1.3.4: Intellectual Property Rights

Description

The Intellectual Property Rights sub-program, by which plant breeders can obtain intellectual property rights for their new plant varieties, aims to create an environment in Canada which supports innovation in plant breeding, as set out in the relevant governing act and regulations. This sub-program achieves its objectives by assessing applications from plant breeders to determine that new plant varieties meet the criteria for protection, and when all requirements have been met, granting rights to the variety breeder/owner for a period of up to 18 years. The owner of a new variety who receives a grant of rights has exclusive rights over use of the variety, and will be able to protect his/her new variety from exploitation by others. By enforcing the relevant governing act and regulations,
this sub-program stimulates plant breeding in Canada, facilitates better access to foreign varieties for Canadian producers and supports the protection of Canadian varieties in other countries.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Actual Spending

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

910,933

1,777,590

866,657

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

8

9

1

The increase from planned to actual spending of $0.9 million is mainly due to one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments, while FTEs remained fairly stable.

Table 2-3e: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Actual Results

Actual Results

Plant breeders develop new varieties for the Canadian market

Percentage of Plant Breeders' Rights applications that reach approval and are granted rights

100%

100%

Met

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

For the 2014 calendar year, the CFIA received 345 applications for Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR), 285 applications were granted PBR and 1,636 PBR applications were renewed.
More information on PBR can be found on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's websiteEndnote xx.

The Agricultural Growth Act confirmed the farmer's privilege for farm-saved seed. Regulatory amendments to the Plant Breeders' Rights Regulations have been deferred to 2015/16 to allow the CFIA to adequately consult with stakeholders and the Plant Breeders' Rights Advisory Committee.

Program 1.4: International Collaboration and Technical Agreements

Description

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's International Collaboration and Technical Agreements program contributes to a coherent, predictable, and science-based international regulatory framework that facilitates meeting regulatory requirements of importing countries' food, animals and plants, and their products, resulting in the facilitation of
multi-billion dollar trade for the Canadian economy. The program achieves its objectives through actively participating in international fora for the development of international science-based rules, standards, guidelines and policies and the management of sanitary and phytosanitary committees established under international agreements. The CFIA's active promotion of the Canadian science-based regulatory system with foreign trading partners and negotiations to resolve scientific and technical issues contribute to market access.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Main Estimates

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Total Authorities Available for use

2014-15
Actual Spending (authorities used)

2014-15
Difference (actual minus planned)

25,382,494

25,382,494

41,139,746

40,718,768

15,336,274

Human Resources (FTEs)

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

299

335

36

The increases from planned to actual spending of $15.3 million and 36 FTEs are mainly due to: the transfer of resources from Agriculture and Agri-Food to undertake activities to improve market access for Canadian agricultural products; the renewal of funding
to support BSE activities; as well as considerable one-time disbursements related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Table 2-4a: Performance Results

Expected Result

Performance Indicators

Targets

Performance Status

Performance Status

Canadian interests are reflected in science-based international rules, standards, Free Trade Agreements, and technical arrangements through effective participation in Sanitary
and Phytosanitary (SPS) negotiations and International Standards Setting Bodies (ISSB) such as Codex, OIE, and IPPC

Number of key sanitary and phytosanitary negotiations and international standards setting bodies meetings where the CFIA promoted Canada's interests

24

43

Met

International markets are accessible to Canadian food, animals, plants, and their products

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Led and coordinated Canada's Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) input into various World Trade Organization (WTO) fora.

As Canada's lead for the domestic implementation of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures, the CFIA:

Led Canada's participation at the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE); and in certain committees of
the Codex Alimentarius Commission to promote the development of international science-based standards consistent with Canada's regulatory framework.

Provided technical assistance to developing countries in accordance with the WTOSPS Agreement to facilitate the development and implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures based on sound science.

Participated in 13 Codex Committees, five of which the CFIA was Canada's Head of Delegation, to influence science-based standards. Canada successfully hosted the 42nd session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) for which the CFIA is a major contributor.

Participated in a total of 15 IPPC meetings, which were attended in person and virtually, to actively influence the IPPC strategy as well as standards-related work of the Expert Working Group on the International movement of wood products and handicraft made from wood.

Participated in 12 OIE meetings to provide expert input and actively influence the development of science-based international standards. Canada hosted two OIE related meetings, one on veterinary biologics and the other on the evaluation of veterinary services.

Greater Alignment of Regulatory Approaches with the USA through the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) and the Beyond the Border (BtB) Initiative

To enhance regulatory cooperation with the United States, the CFIA successfully negotiated four (4) enhanced work plans with the United States in the areas of meat inspection and certification, plant health, animal health, and food safety.

Work continued on initial RCC and BtB initiatives.

Over the last year, progress was made towards finalizing a guidance document to support implementation of the Canada-U.S. Zoning arrangement for the
Recognition of Foreign Animal Disease Control and Eradication Zones. An action plan was completed for the RCC.

In addition, the CFIA and its US counterparts reached an agreement in principle on a Memorandum of Understanding that will guide future collaboration on plant health.

Over the past year, the CFIA successfully negotiated enhanced partnerships with U.S. counterparts, including:

A new senior level governance committee with the United States Department of Agriculture, (USDA) which will set priorities and work plans for the coming years, and will include a stakeholder engagement component.

A senior level committee with the Unites States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) was confirmed as the forum for future discussions on regulatory cooperation activities. New to this arrangement is a commitment to conduct binational stakeholder outreach to help identify priorities going forward.

Supporting Market Access

Some of the major activities the CFIA conducted in 2014-15 in support of market access include:

Actively negotiated and reached agreement on new export certificate with the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service, in collaboration with industry stakeholders.

Signed an Organic Equivalency with Japan in September 2014; it came into effect in January 2015.

Successfully conducted an evaluation process with the Chinese authorities, which now allows cherries from British Columbia to be exported to China.

Agreed with its Brazilian counterparts on a health certificate for the export of pork and pork products to Brazil.

Gained a derogation which maintains less stringent requirements for the export of ash wood to the European Union.

Reached a regionalization agreement with Japan in the event of a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in Canada.

Reached agreements with Ukraine and Turkey allowing trade to continue following the implementation of new import conditions for fish and fishery products.

Successfully negotiated with its Malaysian counterparts for continued access for soybeans.

Successfully renegotiated a certificate for live molluscs and their gametes or germplasm for aquaculture or research purposes to China.

In collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada (DFATD), continued to co-lead the SPS components of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Co-led the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations.

Contributed to the development of positions and strategies for free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations for all SPS chapters.

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. These groups are: Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; Acquisition Services; and Other Administrative Services. Internal Services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization and not to those provided to a specific program.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

2014-15
Main Estimates

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Total Authorities Available for use

2014-15
Actual Spending (authorities used)

2014-15
Difference (actual minus planned)

109,053,625

109,004,540

137,511,974

133,951,514

24,946,974

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents — FTEs) - Internal Service

2014-15
Planned

2014-15
Actual

2014-15 Difference (actual minus planned)

774

804

30

The increases from planned to actual spending of $24.9 million and 30 FTEs reflects the incremental Internal Services support for the various initiative resources received via the Supplementary Estimates, as well as considerable expenditures made on behalf of the Treasury Board related to government-wide workforce initiatives and retroactive salary settlement payments.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Regulatory Modernization

The CFIA organized a Healthy and Safe Food Regulatory Forum in June 2014 which brought 250 external stakeholders to Ottawa to learn about and discuss elements of the Agency's ongoing modernization efforts. Following the Forum, the CFIA received over 400 formal submissions from stakeholders on various Agency Transformation consultation documents. This provided the Agency with a good insight and understanding of the
policy and regulatory aspects and business concerns in these areas, and contributed to the advancement of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.

Progress on Government Record Keeping Directive

Made progress on compliance with the Treasury Board Directive on Record Keeping, including:

Implemented a progressive email storage quota during 2014/15, moving from 5GB to 3GB as the Agency moves towards the 2GB standard in 2015/16;

In 2014-15, the CFIA engaged the public and stakeholders through social media, the CFIA website, and meetings. The Agency participated in 210 external stakeholder events
(meetings, webinars, teleconferences, videoconferences), reaching more than 7,300 people. In addition to legislative and regulatory modernization, engagement topics included other Agency Transformation initiatives and supporting policies such as integrated Agency Inspection Model (iAIM), labelling modernization and the risk assessment model.

Contributing to the Government's Sustainable Development Goals

The CFIA continued to contribute to the Federal Sustainable Directive's (FSD) Theme IV (Shrinking the Environmental Footprint - Beginning with Government) targets through the Internal Services Program.

The CFIA is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its fleet by 13% below 2005 levels by 2020. The CFIA has reduced its fleet inventory in the last two years and procured more fuel efficient vehicles.

The CFIA took action to demonstrate that it fulfilled the requirements of the Policy on Green Procurement in relation to training, employee performance evaluations, procurement management processes and controls and using common use procurement instruments.

Progress on Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Requests

In 2014-15, the Access to Information and Privacy Office released information for
358 requests, thereby eliminating most of the backlog, including approximately 107 late requests.

Footnotes

Footnote 20

The target in the 2013-14 RPP was: 10/Year. Rationale for change: The indicator target was revised to better reflect the expected volume of activities.

Section III: Supplementary Information

Financial Statements Highlights

The financial highlights presented within the Agency's Performance Report are intended to serve as a general overview of the CFIA's financial position and operations. Financial statements are prepared in accordance with accrual accounting principles, Treasury Board accounting policies and year-end instructions issued by the Office of the Comptroller General which are based on Canadian generally accepted accounting principles for the public sector as required under Section 31 of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act.

The main financial highlight for 2014-15 is the reduction of the allowance for employee severance benefits resulting from the renewal of collective agreements and the option for employees to cash-out their severance. Also important to note is the implementation of salary payments in arrears which impacted the Due from Consolidated Revenue Fund and the Net Financial Position but had no effect on the Agency's expenditures.
The compensation payments in the Animal Health and Zoonotics Program for 2014-15 are mostly for the Avian Influenza outbreak in British-Columbia. These compensation payments are smaller than the prior year payments related to the Infectious Salmon Anemia. Finally, capital investments related to the modernization of information technologies were less compared to the prior year.

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited)For the Year Ended March 31, 2015(in thousands of dollars)

Financial Information

2014-15Planned Results

2014-15Actual

2013-14Actual

Difference (2014-15
actual minus 2014-15planned)

Difference (2014-15
actual minus 2013-14
actual)

Total expenses

765,524

840,801

886,508

(75,277)

(45,707)

Total revenues

53,661

54,713

58,594

(1,052)

(3,881)

Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers

711,863

786,088

827,914

(74,225)

(41,826)

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited)As at March 31, 2015(in thousands of dollars)

Financial Information

2014-15

2013-14

Difference (2014-15
minus 2013-14)

Total liabilities

183,651

237,834

(54,183)

Total net financial assets

96,497

66,549

29,948

Agency - net debt

87,154

171,285

(84,131)

Total non-financial assets

187,577

200,531

(12,954)

Agency - net financial position

100,423

29,246

71,177

Total liabilities at the end of 2014-15 were $184 million, a decrease of $54 million (23%) over the previous year's total liabilities of $238 million. The decrease is mostly the result of the $61 million cash outs of severance benefits. The remaining employee severance allowance of $57 million represented 31.13% of total liabilities. The accounts payable and
accrued liabilities corresponded to 51.32 % of total liabilities, at $94 million. Vacation pay and compensatory leave amounted
to $31 million (16.77%), while deferred revenue represented less than 1% of total liabilities.

The total net financial assets of $97 million represents an increase of $30 million (45%), the result of the amount of Due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund being higher than the prior year because
of Pay in Arrears and a higher payable at year end with Treasury Board for the
Employee Benefits Plan. The non-financial assets ($188 million) were $13 million
less (6.5%) compared to 2013-14, because of a reduction in Tangible Capital Assets related to the capital investments for the modernization of information technologies being lower compared to the prior year.
Tangible capital assets represented the largest portion of total assets, at $185 million (65.10%), while Due from CRF corresponded to 31.06% at $88 million.
Accounts receivable and advances only represented 2.9%, followed by the inventory and prepaid expenses which were both less than 1% of total assets.

The total expenses were $841 million in 2014-15, a decrease of $46 million (5%) compared to last year. The variance came mostly from having less compensation payments in 2014-15. Compensation payments in 2014-15 for Avian Influenza in British-Colombia were less than the Infectious Salmon Anemia compensation payments from 2013-14 (within the Animal Health and Zoonotics Program). Other expenditures were fairly stable from year to year and across programs. Overall, salaries were up slightly and travel and professional services were down for most programs. In summary, $417 million (49.64%) were under the Food Safety Program. The Animal Health and Zoonitics Program formed 19.45% of total expenses, while the Plant Resources Program represented 10.72%. 4.87% of all expenses was under the International Collaboration and Technical Agreements. Finally, the Internal Services accounted for 15.31% of total expenditures.

The total revenues amounted to
$54.7 million for 2014-15. The decrease from 2013-14 is mostly because the provincial meat establishments are no longer inspected by CFIA, but rather at the Provincial level. The inspection fees form the biggest portion of the revenues at $38 million, representing 69% of all revenues. 55.86% of the revenues was derived from the Food Safety Program, while the International Collaboration and
Technical Agreements represented 23.71%. The Plant Resources Program represented 13.79% of all revenues while the Animal Health and Zoonitics Program represented approximately 6.20%.

CFIA planned results are taken from the 2014-15 Future-Oriented Statement of Operations referenced in the Agency's 2014-15 Report on Plans and Priorities. They are based on assumptions and approved budget as of December 2013.

The main difference between the planned and the actual expenses comes from the compensation payments related to the Avian Influenza outbreak leading to higher expenses (compensation payments and others) in the Animal Health and Zoonotics Program than forecasted. Finally, the renewal of collective agreements also happened later than expected resulting in higher salary retro payments.

Financial Statements

Financial Statements of
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (Unaudited)
Year ended March 31, 2015

Statement of Management Responsibility Including Internal Control Over Financial Reporting (Unaudited)

Responsibility for the integrity and objectivity of the accompanying financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2015 and all information contained in these statements rests with the Agency's management. These financial statements have been prepared by management using the Government's accounting policies, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards.

Management is responsible for the integrity and objectivity of the information in these financial statements. Some of the information in the financial statements is based on management's best estimates and judgement, and gives due consideration to materiality. To fulfill its accounting and reporting responsibilities, management maintains a set of accounts that provides a centralized record of the Agency's financial transactions. Financial information submitted to the Public Accounts of Canada and included in the Agency's Departmental Performance Report is consistent with these financial statements.

Management is also responsible for maintaining an effective system of internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) designed to provide reasonable assurance that financial information is reliable, that assets are safeguarded and that transactions are properly authorized and recorded in accordance with the Financial Administration Act and other applicable legislation, regulations, authorities and policies.

Management seeks to ensure the objectivity and integrity of data in its financial statements through careful selection, training and development of qualified staff; through organizational arrangements that provide appropriate divisions of responsibility; through communication programs aimed at ensuring that regulations, policies, standards, and managerial authorities are understood throughout the Agency and through conducting an annual risk-based assessment of the effectiveness of the system of ICFR.

The system of ICFR is designed to mitigate risks to a reasonable level based on an on-going process to identify key risks, to assess effectiveness of associated key controls, and to make any necessary adjustments.

A risk-based assessment of the system of ICFR for the year ended March 31, 2015 was completed in accordance with the Treasury Board Policy on Internal Control and the results and action plans are summarized in the annex.

The effectiveness and adequacy of the Agency's system of internal control is reviewed by the work of internal audit staff, who conduct periodic audits of different areas of the Agency's operations, and by the Departmental Audit Committee, which is responsible for providing the President with independent and objective advice on the maintenance of adequate control systems and the quality of financial reporting. The Departmental Audit Committee provides this support through oversight of core areas of the Agency's controls and accountabilities.

The financial statements of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have not been audited.

Statement of Operations and Agency Net Financial Position (Unaudited)
Year ended March 31
(In thousands of dollars)

2015 Planned Results

2015

2014

Expenses

Food Safety Program

$400,261

$417,402

$407,591

Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

112,402

163,560

209,392

Plant Resources Program

91,269

90,170

98,841

International Collaboration and Technical Agreements

30,911

40,916

41,145

Internal Services

130,681

128,753

129,361

Expenses incurred on behalf of Government

-

-

178

Total expenses

765,524

840,801

886,508

Revenues

Inspection fees

38,465

37,879

42,072

Registrations, permits, certificates

8,062

8,804

8,625

Miscellaneous fees and services

5,286

5,360

4,826

Establishment license fees

1,669

2,001

2,067

Administrative monetary penalties

1,409

1,150

1,221

Grading

179

100

152

Interest

32

39

30

Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment

-

25

-

Revenues earned on behalf of Government

(1,441)

(645)

(399)

Total revenues

53,661

54,713

58,594

Net cost of operations

$711,863

$786,088

$827,914

Government funding and transfers

Net Cash provided by government

760,419

749,117

Change in due from Consolidated Revenue Fund

29,850

(3,670)

Services provided without charge by other government departments (Note 10)

84,172

82,284

Assets funded by other government departments (OGD)

20

67

Transfer of the transition payments for implementing salary payments in arrears (Note 11)

(17,196)

-

Transfer of assets and liabilities from/to OGD

-

(41)

Net cost of operations after government funding and transfers

(71,177)

157

Agency - net financial position - Beginning of year

29,246

29,403

Agency - net financial position - End of year

$100,423

$29,246

Segmented information (Note 12)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

Statement of Change in Agency Net Debt (Unaudited)

Statement of Change in Agency Net Debt (Unaudited)
Year ended March 31
(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Net cost of operations after government funding and transfers

$(71,177)

$157

Change in tangible capital assets

Acquisition of tangible capital assets

21,058

29,085

Amortization of tangible capital assets

(34,843)

(32,484)

Proceeds from disposal of tangible capital assets

(657)

(533)

Net (loss) or gain on disposal of tangible capital assets

25

(810)

Post-capitalization of tangible capital assets

74

350

Tangible capital assets funded by other government departments (OGD)

20

67

Tangible capital assets transfer to OGD

-

(41)

Total change due to tangible capital assets

(14,323)

(4,366)

Change in inventories

109

27

Change in prepaid expenses

1,260

(950)

Net increase in Agency net debt

(84,131)

(5,132)

Agency - net debt - Beginning of year

171,285

176,417

Agency - net debt - End of year

$87,154

$171,285

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

Statement of Cash Flows (Unaudited)

Statement of Cash Flows (Unaudited)
Year ended March 31
(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Operating activities

Cash received from:

Fees, permits and certificates

$(55,349)

$(59,761)

Cash paid for:

Salaries and employees benefits

646,645

567,281

Operating and maintenance

133,712

152,186

Transfer payments

14,375

60,471

Revenues collected on behalf of Government

635

388

Cash used by operating activities

740,018

720,565

Capital investment activities

Acquisition of tangible capital assets

21,058

29,085

Proceeds from disposal of tangible capital assets

(657)

(533)

Cash used by capital investment activities

20,401

28,552

Net cash provided by Government of Canada

$760,419

$749,117

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Notes to the Financial Statements (Unaudited)
Year ended March 31, 2015

1. Authority and Purposes

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the "Agency") was established, effective April 1, 1997, under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act. The Act consolidates all federally mandated food and fish inspection services and federal animal and plant health activities into a single agency.

The Agency is a departmental corporation named in Schedule II to the Financial Administration Act and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Health.

The mandate of the Agency is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of federal inspection and related services for food, animals and plants. The objectives of the Agency are to contribute to a safe food supply and accurate product information; to contribute to the continuing health of animals and plants; and to facilitate trade in food, animals, plants, and related products.

In delivering its mandate, the Agency operates under the following 4 programs supported by internal services:

Food Safety Program: The Food Safety Program aims to mitigate risks to public health associated with diseases and other health hazards in the food supply system and to manage food safety emergencies and incidents. The program achieves its objectives by promoting food safety awareness through public engagement and verification of compliance by industry with standards and science-based regulations. The program delivers initiatives to verify that consumers receive food safety and nutrition information and to mitigate unfair market practices targeting consumers and industry. Collaboration with other governments and stakeholders further enhances the Agency's ability to track, detect and mitigate risks associated with food and the food supply system, including food-borne illness. This program supports public health and instils confidence in Canada's food system.

Animal Health And Zoonotics Program: The Animal Health and Zoonotics Program aims to mitigate risks to Canada's animal resource base, animal feeds and animal products, which are integral to a safe and accessible food supply system as well as to public health. The program achieves its objectives by mitigating risks to Canada's animals (including livestock and aquatic animals) from regulated diseases, managing animal disease emergencies and incidents, mitigating and managing risks to livestock and derived food products associated with feed, promoting animal welfare and guarding against deliberate threats to the animal resource base. The program helps to mitigate risks associated with animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans by controlling diseases within animal populations. This program supports the health of Canada's animal resources and instils confidence in the safety of Canada's animals, animal products and by-products, and production systems.

Plant Resources Program: The Plant Resources Program aims to mitigate risks to Canada's plant resource base, which is integral to a safe and accessible food supply, as well as to public health and environmental sustainability.

The program achieves its objectives by regulating agricultural and forestry products; mitigating risks to the plant resource base (including crops and forests) from regulated pests and diseases; regulating the safety and integrity of seeds, fertilizers and plant products; and managing plant health emergencies and incidents. The program also guards against deliberate threats to the plant resource base, facilitates the introduction of emerging plant technologies and protects the rights of plant breeders. Achieving the objectives of the program instils confidence in Canada's plants, plant production systems and plant products, and contributes to the health of Canada's plant resources.

International Collaboration And Technical Agreements: The CFIA's International Collaboration and Technical Agreements program contributes to a coherent, predictable, and science-based international regulatory framework that facilitates meeting regulatory requirements of importing countries' food, animals and plants, and their products, resulting in the facilitation of multi-billion dollar trade for the Canadian economy. The program achieves its objectives through actively participating in international fora for the development of international science-based rules, standards, guidelines and policies and, the management of sanitary and phytosanitary committees established under international agreements. The CFIA's active promotion of the Canadian science-based regulatory system with foreign trading partners and negotiations to resolve scientific and technical issues contribute to market access.

Internal Services: Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization, and not those provided to a specific program. The groups of activities are Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; and Acquisition Services.

In addition, the Agency is responsible for enforcement of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and the Food and Drugs Act as they relate to food, except those provisions that relate to public health, safety, or nutrition.

Operating and capital expenditures are funded by the Government of Canada through parliamentary authorities. Compensation payments under the Health of Animals Act and the Plant Protection Act and employee benefits are authorized by separate statutory authorities. Revenues generated by its operations are deposited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and are available for use by the Agency.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

These financial statements have been prepared using the Government's accounting policies stated below, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards. The presentation and results using the stated accounting policies do not result in any significant differences from Canadian public sector accounting standards.

Significant accounting policies are as follows:

Parliamentary authorities

The Agency is mainly financed by the Government of Canada through Parliamentary authorities. Authorities provided to the Agency do not parallel financial reporting according to generally accepted accounting principles since authorities are primarily based on cash flow requirements. Consequently, items recognized in the Statement of Operations and Agency Net Financial Position and in the Statement of Financial Position are not necessarily the same as those provided through authorities from Parliament. Note 3 provides a high level reconciliation between the bases of reporting. The planned results amounts in the “Expenses” and “Revenues” sections of the Statement of Operations and Agency Net Financial Position are the amounts reported in the Future-Oriented Statement of Operations approved in February 2014 and included in the 2014-15 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP). The planned results are consistent with the information presented in the RPP and are based on approved budgetary figures as of December 2013. Planned results are not presented in the “Government funding and transfers” section of the Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position and in the Statement of Change in Departmental Net Debt because these amounts were not included in the 2014-15 Report on Plans and Priorities.

Net cash provided by Government of Canada

The Agency operates within the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), which is administrated by the Receiver General for Canada. All cash received by the Agency is deposited to the CRF and all cash disbursements made by the Agency are paid from the CRF.

The net cash provided by Government is the difference between all cash receipts and all cash disbursements, including transactions between departments of the Government of Canada.

Due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)

The amount of due from CRF are the result of timing differences at year-end between when a transaction affects authorities and when it is processed through the CRF.

Amounts due from the CRF represent the net amount of cash that the Agency is entitled to draw from the CRF without further authorities to discharge its liabilities.

Revenues

Revenues for fees, permits and certificates are recognized in the accounts as the services are provided.

Funds received from external parties for specified purposes are recorded upon receipt as deferred revenue. Revenue from external parties for specified purposes is recognized in the period in which the related expenses are incurred.

Other revenues are accounted for in the period in which the underlying transaction or event occurred that gave rise to the revenues.

Revenues earned on behalf of Government are non-respendable and are not available to discharge the Agency's liabilities. These revenues are presented as a reduction to the Agency's revenues. While the President is expected to maintain accounting control, he or she has no authority regarding the disposition of non-respendable revenues.

As a result, non-respendable revenues are considered to be earned on behalf of Government of Canada and are therefore presented in reduction of the Agency's revenues.

Expenses

Expenses are recorded on an accrual basis:

Transfer payments are recognized in the year in which the recipient has met the eligibility criteria or fulfilled the terms of a contractual transfer agreement.

Vacation pay and compensatory leave are expensed as the benefits accrue to employees under their respective terms of employment.

Services provided without charge by other government departments for accommodation, the employer's contribution to the health and dental insurance plans, legal services and Shared Services Canada expenses are recorded as operating expenses at their estimated cost.

Employee future benefits

Pension benefits:

The Agency's eligible employees participate in the Public Service Pension Plan (the ‘'Plan''), a multi-employer plan administered by the Government of Canada. Both the employees and the Agency contribute to the cost of the Plan.

The Agency's contributions are expensed during the year in which the services are rendered and represent the total pension obligation of the Agency. Under present legislation the Agency is not required to make contributions with respect to actuarial deficits of the Plan.

Severance benefits:

As part of collective agreement negotiations with the employees, and changes to conditions of employment, the accumulation of severance benefits under the employee severance pay program has ceased commencing in 2012. As of March 31st 2015, all employees had been given the option to be immediately paid the full or partial value of benefits earned to date or collect the full or remaining value of benefits on termination from the public service. The obligation relating to the benefits earned to be paid on termination is calculated using information derived from the results of the actuarially determined liability for employee severance benefits for the Government as a whole.

Other future benefit plans:

The Government of Canada sponsors a variety of other future benefit plans from which employees and former employees can benefit during or after employment or upon retirement. The Public Service Health Care Plan and the Pensioners' Dental Services Plan represent the two major future benefit plans available to the Agency's employees.

The Agency does not pay for these programs as they fall under the Government of Canada's financial responsibilities, but the Agency records its share of the annual benefits paid under these programs as a service provided without charge by other government departments. No amount is recorded in the Agency's financial statements with regard to either the actuarial liability of these programs at year end or the annual increase of such liabilities.

Accounts receivable and advances

Accounts receivable and advances are stated at amounts expected to be ultimately realized; a provision is made for receivables where recovery is considered uncertain.

Contingent liabilities

Contingent liabilities are potential liabilities which may become actual liabilities when one or more future events occur or fail to occur. To the extent that the future event is likely to occur or fail to occur, and a reasonable estimate of the loss can be made, an estimated liability is accrued and an expense recorded. If the likelihood is not determinable or an amount cannot be reasonably estimated, the contingency is disclosed in the notes to the financial statements.

Inventory

Inventory consists of laboratory materials, supplies and livestock held for future program delivery and not intended for re-sale. It is valued at cost. If it no longer has service potential, it is valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value.

Tangible capital assets

All tangible capital assets and leasehold improvements having an initial cost of $10,000 or more are recorded at their acquisition cost. Amortization of tangible capital assets is recorded on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the asset as follows:

Tangible capital assets

Asset class

Amortization Period

Buildings

20-30 years

Machinery and equipment

5-20 years

Computer equipment and software

3-10 years

Vehicles

7-10 years

Leasehold improvements

Lesser of the remaining term of the lease or useful life of the improvement

Assets under construction

Once in service, in accordance with asset class

Measurement uncertainty

The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses reported in the financial statements. At the time of preparation of these statements, management believes the estimates and assumptions to be reasonable.

The most significant items where estimates are used are contingent liabilities, the liability for employee severance benefits and the useful life of tangible capital assets. Actual results could significantly differ from those estimated. Management's estimates are reviewed periodically and, as adjustments become necessary, they are recorded in the financial statements in the year they become known.

3. Parliamentary Authorities

The Agency receives most of its funding through annual Parliamentary authorities. Items recognized in the Statement of Operations and Agency Net Financial Position and the Statement of Financial Position in one year may be funded through Parliamentary authorities in prior, current or future years. Accordingly, the Agency has different net results of operations for the year on a government funding basis than on an accrual accounting basis. The differences are reconciled in the following tables:

(a) Reconciliation of net cost of operations to current year authorities used:

(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers

$786,088

$827,914

Adjustments for items affecting net cost of operations but not affecting authorities:

Add (less):

Services provided without charge by other government departments

(84,172)

(82,284)

Amortization of tangible capital assets

(34,843)

(32,484)

Revenues pursuant to Section 30 of the CFIA act

53,407

57,981

Refund of Prior year expenditures

5,000

2,452

Bad debt

(197)

(294)

Change in Employee Severance Benefits

52,707

12,819

Change in Allowance for Expired Collective
Agreements

28,080

(11,797)

Other net changes in future funding requirements

4,727

3,353

Gain (loss) on disposal of tangible capital assets

25

(810)

Post-capitalization of tangible capital assets

74

350

Total

24,808

(50,714)

Adjustments for items not affecting net cost of operations but affecting authorities:

4. Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities

The following table presents details of the Agency's account payable and accrued liabilities:

Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities

(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Accounts payable to other government department (OGD)

$21,906

$5,934

Accounts payable to external parties

29,872

41,284

Total for accounts payable

51,778

47,218

Accrued liabilities

42,472

46,139

Total

$94,250

$93,357

5. Employee Benefits

Pension benefits.

The Agency's employees participate in the public service pension plan (the “Plan”), which is sponsored and administered by the Government of Canada. Pension benefits accrue up to a maximum period of 35 years at a rate of 2 percent per year of pensionable service, times the average of the best five consecutive years of earnings. The benefits are integrated with Canada/Québec Pension Plan benefits and they are indexed to inflation.

Both the employees and the Agency contribute to the cost of the Plan. Due to the amendment of the Public Service Superannuation Act following the implementation of provisions related to the Canada's Economic Action Plan 2012, employee contributors have been divided into two groups - Group 1 relates to existing plan members as of December 31, 2012 and Group 2 relates to members joining the Plan as of January 1, 2013. Each group has a distinct contribution rate.

The 2014-2015 expense amounts to $60,107,261 ($57,666,000 in 2013-2014). For Group 1 members, the expense represents approximately 1.41 times (1.6 times in 2013-2014) the employee contributions and, for Group 2 members, approximately 1,39 times (1.5 times in 2013-2014) the employee contributions.

The Agency's responsibility with regard to the Plan is limited to its contributions. Actuarial surpluses or deficiencies are recognized in the financial statements of the Government of Canada, as the Plan's sponsor.

Severance benefits

The Agency provides severance benefits to its employees based on eligibility, years of service and final salary. These severance benefits are not pre-funded and thus have no assets, resulting in a plan deficit equal to the accrued benefit obligation. Benefits will be paid from future authorities.

As part of collective agreement negotiations with the employees, and changes to conditions of employment, the accumulation of severance benefits under the employee severance pay program has ceased commencing in 2012.

Employees have been given the option to be immediately paid the full or partial value of benefits earned to date or collect the full or remaining value of benefits on termination from the public service. These changes have been reflected in the calculation of the outstanding severance benefit obligation. Information about the severance benefits, measured for March 31, is as follows:

Accrued benefit obligation

(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Accrued benefit obligation, beginning of year

$109,873

$122,692

Expense for the year

16,289

(3,279)

Benefits paid during the year

(68,996)

(9,540)

Accrued benefit obligation, end of year

$57,166

$109,873

6. Accounts Receivable and Advances

The following table presents details of accounts receivable and advances:

8. Contingent Liabilities

Claims relating to both legal and employee grievances have been made against the Agency in the normal course of operations. Some of these potential liabilities may become actual liabilities when one or more future events occur or fail to occur. To the extent that the future event is likely to occur or fail to occur, and a reasonable estimate of the loss can be made, an estimate of liability is accrued and an expense recorded in the financial statements.

Amounts have been accrued for contingent liabilities as at March 31, 2015 pertaining to legal claims. The amount of the contingent liabilities for legal claims recognized is based on management's best estimate. Other legal claims against the Agency and other defendants include a class action suit related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) for which the likelihood of liability is not determinable.

No amounts have been accrued pertaining to employee grievances as at March 31, 2015.

9. Contractual Obligations

The nature of the Agency's activities can result in some large multi-year contracts and agreements whereby the Agency will be obligated to make future payments when the services/goods are received. Significant contractual obligations that can be reasonably estimated are summarized as follows:

Contractual Obligations

(In thousands of dollars)

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020 and thereafter

Total

Capital projects

$3,499

$-

$-

$-

$-

$3,499

Operating leases

3,252

1,616

23

23

23

4,937

Transfer payments

1,250

625

625

-

-

2,500

Operating contracts

22,008

3,735

1,360

540

278

27,921

Total

$30,009

$5,976

$2,008

$563

$301

$38,857

10. Related Party Transactions

The Agency is related as a result of common ownership to all Government of Canada departments, agencies, and Crown corporations. The Agency enters into transactions with these entities in the normal course of business and on normal trade terms.

Services provided without charge by other government departments

During the year, the Agency received without charge from other government departments: The employer's contribution to the health and dental insurance plans, accommodation, certain legal services and Shared Services Canada expenses. These amounts have been recognized in the Agency's Statement of Operations and Agency Net Financial Position as follows:

Services provided without charge by other government departments

(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Employer's contribution to the health and dental insurance plans

$39,628

$39,832

Accommodation

30,661

30,372

Legal services

1,325

660

Shared Services Canada expenses

12,558

11,420

$84,172

$82,284

Other transactions with related parties

Other transactions with related parties

(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Accounts receivable from other government departments and agencies

$2,505

$2,903

Accounts payable to other government departments and agencies

21,906

5,934

Expenses - Other Government departments and agencies

122,822

120,881

Revenues - Other Government departments and agencies

666

540

11. Transfer of the transition payments for implementing salary payments in arrears

The Government of Canada implemented salary payments in arrears in 2014-15. As a result, a one-time payment was issued to employees and will be recovered from them in the future. The transition to salary payments in arrears forms part of the transformation initiative that replaces the pay system and also streamlines and modernizes the pay processes. This change to the pay system had no impact on the expenses of the Department. Prior to year end, the transition payments for implementing salary payments in arrears were transferred to a central account administered by Public Works and Government Services Canada, who is responsible for the administration of the Government pay system.

12. Segmented information

Presentation by segment is based on the Agency's program alignment architecture. The presentation by segment is based on the same accounting policies as described in the Summary of significant accounting policies in note 2. The following table presents the expenses incurred and revenues generated by program, by major object of expenses and by major type of revenues. The segment results for the period are as follows:

Segmented information

(In thousands of dollars)

2015

2014

Food Safety Program

Animal Health andZoonotics Program

Plant Resources Program

International Collaboration andTechnical Agreements

Internal Services

Total

Total

Transfer Payments

Compensation payments

$-

$11,550

$1,005

$-

$-

$12,555

$58,293

Other

285

324

-

270

-

879

2,126

Total transfer payments

285

11,874

1,005

270

-

13,434

60,419

Operating Expenses

Salaries and employee benefits

330,624

110,291

70,507

35,154

77,367

623,943

604,386

Professional and special services

26,208

9,756

3,038

362

29,971

69,335

81,243

Accommodation

18,536

11,018

4,012

1,747

3,723

39,036

39,475

Amortization

17,336

6,789

3,778

1,708

5,232

34,843

32,484

Travel and relocation

7,271

4,184

1,477

741

1,461

15,134

20,206

Utilities, materials and supplies

6,186

4,790

3,677

205

3,761

18,619

19,187

Communications

6,276

2,464

1,367

616

2,094

12,817

11,733

Furniture and equipment

1,874

1,022

423

24

724

4,067

6,577

Repairs

1,773

880

510

66

1,989

5,218

6,228

Equipment rentals

628

314

195

14

2,239

3,390

2,185

Information

130

61

51

1

131

374

936

Loss of disposal of assets

-

-

-

-

-

-

810

Miscellaneous

275

117

130

8

61

591

461

Expenses incurred on behalf of Government

-

-

-

-

-

-

178

Total operating expenses

417,117

151,686

89,165

40,646

128,753

827,367

826,089

Total expenses

417,402

163,560

90,170

40,916

128,753

840,801

886,508

Revenues

Inspection fees

25,917

896

4,745

6,321

-

37,879

42,072

Registrations, permits, certificates

2,201

827

864

4,912

-

8,804

8,625

Miscellaneous fees and services

354

1,247

1,511

1,736

512

5,360

4,826

Establishment license fees

1,981

-

20

-

-

2,001

2,067

Administrative monetary penalties

-

419

401

-

330

1,150

1,221

Grading

97

-

-

3

-

100

152

Interest

-

-

-

-

39

39

30

Gain on disposal of assets

12

5

3

1

4

25

-

Revenues earned on behalf of Government

-

-

-

-

(645)

(645)

(399)

Total revenues

30,562

3,394

7,544

12,973

240

54,713

58,594

Net cost of operations

$386,840

$160,166

$82,626

$27,943

$128,513

$786,088

$827,914

Summary of the assessment of effectiveness of the systems of internal control over financial reporting and the action plan of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for fiscal year 2014-15 (unaudited)

Annex to the Statement of Management Responsibility Including Internal Control over Financial Reporting

1. Introduction

This document provides summary information on the measures taken by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA or the Agency) to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting (ICFR), including information on internal control management and assessment results and related action plans.

Detailed information on the CFIA's authority, mandate and program activities can be found in the Agency's Departmental Performance Report and Report on Plans and Priorities.

2. Agency system of internal control over financial reporting

2.1 Internal Control Management

The CFIA has a well-established governance and accountability structure to support departmental assessment efforts and oversight of its system of internal control. An Agency internal control management framework, approved by the President, is in place and includes:

Organizational accountability structures as they relate to internal control management to support sound financial management, including roles and responsibilities of senior managers in their areas of responsibility for control management;

Values and ethics;

Ongoing communication and training on statutory requirements, and policies and procedures for sound financial management and control; and

At least semi-annual monitoring of and regular updates on internal control management, as well as the provision of related assessment results and action plans to the President and departmental senior management and, as applicable, the Agency Audit Committee.

The Agency Audit Committee provides advice to the President on the adequacy and functioning of the Agency's risk management, control and governance frameworks and processes.

2.2 Service arrangements relevant to financial statements

The Agency relies on other organizations for the processing of certain transactions that are recorded in its financial statements:

Common arrangements

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) centrally administers pay services and the procurement of goods and services, as per the Agency's Delegation of Authority, and provides accommodation services;

The Treasury Board Secretariat provides the Agency with information used to calculate various accruals and allowances;

The Department of Justice provides legal services to the CFIA; and

Shared Services Canada (SSC) provides IT infrastructure services to the Agency in the areas of data centre and network services. The scope and responsibilities are addressed in the interdepartmental arrangement between SSC and the Agency.

Specific arrangements

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) provides the CFIA with:

The SAP financial system platform to capture and report all financial transactions;

The Enterprise data warehouse to report financial information; and

The PeopleSoft human resource system platform to manage pay and leave transactions.

3. Agency assessment results during fiscal year 2014-15

The key findings and significant adjustments required from the current year's assessment activities are summarized below.

New or significantly amended key controls: In the current year, there were no significantly amended key controls in existing processes which required a reassessment. Design and operating effectiveness testing was conducted on any new key controls identified. Significant adjustments were not required for the new key controls.

Ongoing monitoring program: As part of its rotational ongoing monitoring plan, the Agency completed its reassessment of entity-level controls within Risk Management and Financial Management; Information Technology Access and Change Management Controls and the financial controls within the business processes of Pay, Capital Assets, Revenue and Financial Close & Reporting. For the most part, the key controls that were tested performed as intended, with remediation required as follows:

Communication of employee departure procedures; and

Improvements to controls over asset validation, assessment and disposals.

4. Departmental Action Plan

4.1 Progress during fiscal year 2014-15

The CFIA continued to conduct its ongoing monitoring according to the previous fiscal year's rotational plan as shown in the following table:

Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy

1. Overview of the Federal Government's Approach to Sustainable Development

The Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) 2013–16 presents the Government of Canada's sustainable development activities, as required by the Federal Sustainable Development Act. In keeping with the objectives of the Act to make environmental decision-making more transparent and accountable to Parliament, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency supports the implementation of the FSDS through the activities in this supplementary information table.

Although the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is not bound by the Federal Sustainable Development Act, and is not required to develop a departmental sustainable development strategy, the CFIA voluntarily contributes to Theme III - Protecting Nature and Canadians, and Theme IV - Shrinking the Environmental Footprint – Beginning with Government.

2. Themes I to III: Department- and Agency-Led Targets

N/A – CFIA does not lead any targets.

3. Themes I to III: Implementation Strategies

The CFIA participates in six implementation strategies through ongoing activities in its Plant Resources Program (PAA 1.3) and Plant Protection Sub-Program (PAA 1.3.1)

The implementation strategies support the FSDS Theme IIITarget 4.6 ("By 2020, pathways of invasive alien species introductions are identified, and risk-based intervention or management plans are in place for priority pathways and species") under Goal 4: Conserving and Restoring Ecosystems, Wildlife and Habitat, and Protecting Canadians.

4.6.2 Implement activities and strategic objectives with a focus on preventing and limiting new invasive species from entering Canada so that entry and domestic spread of invasive plants and plant pests is managed and response to invasive plants and plant pests is planned and implemented.

Performance indicators: Activities to implement the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Strategy for Canada (2004) as it relates to preventing the introduction of new and emerging invasive plants and plant pests.

Results for 2014-15: Continued implementation of programs and policies related to the practical prevention, early detection, and response and management activities identified within the IAS Strategy and aligned with the CFIA's Plant Protection mandate.

4.6.7 Develop and implement a risk analysis framework (i.e., risk assessment, risk management and risk communication) and a pathways approach in regulating invasive alien species in Canada so that entry and domestic spread of invasive plants and plant pests is managed and response to invasive plants and plant pests is planned and implemented.

Results for 2014-15: Continued implementation of a science-based risk analysis framework to identify high-risk invasive species and their pathways. Ongoing development of tools and capabilities for modeling of pest risk and spread, and facilitated identification-sharing among federal and provincial partners, ensuring efficient information generation, communication and response to new invasive species.

4.6.8 Engage in partnerships with provincial governments, industry, and stakeholders in responding to invasive species within Canada in order to increase stakeholder and partner cooperation, stakeholder and partner awareness of plants and plant pests, and compliance with policies and regulations.

Performance indicators: Partnership with provincial invasive species councils as well as with agricultural, forestry and horticultural stakeholders. Consultations with Canadians on regulatory options and decisions.

Results for 2014-15: Increased engagement and cooperation with stakeholders to ensure transparent decision making in response to invasive alien species in Canada. Ongoing development of scientific tools and expertise.
Facilitated information sharing among federal departments as well as with provinces and other organizations. Ongoing engagement with partners and stakeholders on developing risk analysis frameworks and response plans. Developed response plan for kudzu (a perennial vine) in partnership with Province of Ontario.

4.6.9 Cooperate with U.S. and international regulators to inspect vessels to ensure compliance with Canadian regulations.

Performance indicators: Under the Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) program, data collected on the inspection of vessels and compliance rates based on requirements under the Plant Protection Act.

Results for 2014-15: Enhanced collaboration with the US for the AGM Pre-departure Vessel Certification Program to prevent the introduction of the AGM by mitigating the risk of introduction at origin. Initiated engagement with other countries to explore potential expansion of adoption of the AGM vessel certification program.

4.6.10 Prevent the introduction and rapid dispersal of invasive species and disease into Canada via land, air and marine ports of entry, thus reducing potential deleterious effects to ecosystems, economies and society.

Performance indicators: Refine and implement the invasive plants program and the AGM vessel certification program through the adoption of the policies on phytosanitary requirements to prevent the introduction of regulated pests in Canada.

Results for 2014-15: Prevented the introduction and spread of invasive species into Canada through inspections at marine ports of entry under the AGM Program as well as airport and post office inspections for other invasive pests.

4.6.11 Foster international, national and provincial collaborative arrangements and partnerships with industry to prevent and limit the introduction of invasive species entering Canada. This will increase stakeholder and partner cooperation, stakeholder and partner awareness of plants and plant pests, and compliance with policies and regulations. This will also increase international engagement, cooperation and awareness of invasive species and compliance with policies and regulations, ensuring that international standards and processes reflect Canadian interests.

Performance indicators: Collaboration with stakeholders, governments and industry to foster a greater awareness of invasive species, their pathways of introduction, and the CFIA's policies and programs and promotion of compliance with Canada's phytosanitary requirements.

Results for 2014-15: Continued to mitigate risks to Canada's plant resource base from imported plants and plant products.

4. Theme IV: Targets and Implementation Strategies

Goal 6: (Green House Gases) GHG Emissions and Energy

Target 6.1: GHG Emissions Reduction

The Government of Canada will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings and fleets by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Departmental Target

13% below 2005 levels by 2020

Performance Measurement

Expected result

Reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption of federal operations.

Percentage change in GHG emissions from fiscal year 2005–06 to fiscal year 2014–15

-33.7 %

Adjustments made to base year GHG emissions.

Not applicable

Goal 7: Waste and Asset Management

Target 7.2: Green Procurement

As of April 1, 2014, the Government of Canada will continue to take action to embed environmental considerations into public procurement, in accordance with the federal Policy on Green Procurement.

Performance Measurement

Expected result

Environmentally responsible acquisition, use and disposal of goods and services.

Performance indicator

Performance level achieved

Departmental approach to further the implementation of the Policy on Green Procurement in place as of April 1, 2014.

The existing CFIA Procurement and Contracting Policy (2008), posted on the CFIA's internal website, references the Treasury Board's Policy on Green Procurement, which promotes the selection of Green Products/Services when searching the PWGSC Standing Offer Index for goods or services. The CFIA has also drafted a complementary Contracting Directive.

Number and percentage of new procurement and/or materiel management specialists who completed the Canada School of Public Service Green Procurement course or equivalent, in fiscal year 2014–15.

n/a
(There were no new materiel managers or procurement personnel in 2014-2015)

Number and percentage of managers and functional heads of procurement and materiel whose performance evaluation includes support and contribution toward green procurement, in fiscal year 2014–15.

3
100%

Departmental green procurement target

By March 31, 2017, 90% of vehiclesFootnote 25purchased annually are from the Pre-Authorized Vehicle List (PAVL).Footnote 26

Performance indicator

Performance level achieved

Number of vehicles purchased from the PAVL, relative to total number of vehicles purchased in fiscal year 2014-2015. (%)

31 vehicles purchased
100% from PAVL

Departmental green procurement target

By March 31, 2017, the CFIA will utilize green consolidated procurement instruments for 95% of its computers procured in each fiscal year.
Footnote 27

Performance indicator

Performance level achieved

Percentage of computers procured in 2014-2015 where green consolidated procurement instruments were used (%)

100%

Departmental green procurement target

By March 31, 2017, the CFIA will utilize green consolidated procurement instruments for 95% of its photocopiers and printers procured in a given fiscal year.Footnote 27

Performance indicator

Performance level achieved

Percentage of photocopiers and printers procured where green consolidated procurement instruments were used (%)

100%

Implementation strategy element or best practice

Performance level achieved

7.2.1.5. Leverage common use procurement instruments where available and feasible.

In 2014-2015, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency considered the environmental effects of initiatives subject to the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals, as part of its decision–making processes. Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) for policy, plan or program proposals included analysis of the impacts of the proposals on the environment, including on the FSDS goals and targets. No related public statements were produced in 2014-2015.

Footnotes

These targets only include computers, photocopiers and printers procured by CFIA's Procurement and Contracting Service Centre. These targets exclude any procurement of specialized/technical equipment where green instruments are not available.

CFIA's performance indicator: By March 31, 2017, 75% of all Call-ups for goods issued by the National Procurement and Contracting Service Centre will use Green Standing Offers where available or feasible.

The CFIA has a procedure in place to ensure that all new acquisition card holders take the Green Procurement course prior to receiving their card. There were 44 new acquisition card holders in 2014-15 and 100% of them completed the required training prior to receiving their cards.

To protect human and animal health, the BSE program conducts surveillance, research and risk assessments on BSE and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) to minimize the risk of exposure to infected materials, maintain consumer confidence through assessment of the effectiveness of the risk mitigation measures and having measures in place to control any potential outbreaks. The BSE program supports market access for cattle, beef and related products by promoting and explaining Canada's BSE program to domestic and international stakeholders.

HC conducts research and risk assessments on human exposure to BSE and other TSEs, and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) carries out surveillance of human TSEs and targeted supporting research in this area. The CFIA enforces the removal of specified risk material (SRM) from the animal feed and the human food chains, monitors products entering and leaving Canada for adherence to Canadian standards or the standards of the importing country, monitors for the prevalence of BSE in the cattle population (through surveillance), verifies that measures to control potential outbreaks are in place and explains Canada's BSE control measures to domestic and international stakeholders (for example, through the veterinarians abroad program) in order to maintain confidence in Canada's BSE program.

Shared outcome(s)

Contributing to the protection of human and animal health, which supports domestic and international market access for Canadian cattle, beef and beef products.

Governance structures

The CFIA is the federal lead for BSE Program delivery. A summative evaluation of the CFIA's BSE program conducted in 2008 recommended the governance of the program be strengthened to enhance coordination and communication regarding BSE-related activities, both internally and with partner organizations. Based on that recommendation and consistent with governance models for related horizontal initiatives, the CFIA launched a new committee structure to bring the Agency's overall governance approach more in line with evolving business needs in 2015. The new governance structure enhances whole-of-Agency information sharing and integration and ensures a more efficient and streamlined senior-level committee structure. It is expected that the renewed structure will foster a whole-of-Agency approach to decision making and will support day-to-day operations across the Agency. To ensure that business line perspectives are integrated into decision-making process, three senior executive-level committees on Animal Health, Plant and Food Safety are supported.

Performance highlights

In 2014-15, the CFIA continued to deliver key priorities and improve communication and coordination (for example, governance), performance measurement and reporting, and financial tracking of the BSE Program.

Footnotes

Comments on Variance: The surplus identified is as a result of minor equipment purchases planned that did not take place until the following fiscal year due to delays in procurement. The other contributing factor is an unanticipated medical leave resulting in the postponement of a major project. The reagents, which have limited shelf life, required to carry out this work were therefore not purchased.

ER 27: SRM
Removal from the Human Food Chain:

Outcome: Safe food

Output: Compliance with current regulations

Activities: Continuation of the enforcement and verification of SRM removal, handling and disposal by CFIA inspection staff.

Indicator: Industry compliance rate for removal of SRM.

T 27: Target: 100% compliance.

RA 27: The CFIA conducts on-site verification of federally registered slaughter and boning establishments. The CFIA also reviews records to verify compliance and the effectiveness of the control program. In 2014-2015, 97.07% (5683/5794) of the planned programming specific to the enforcement and verification of SRM removal was delivered nationally. A compliance rate of 98.75% was achieved in tasks delivered.

CFIA continues to conduct annual audits and onsite verification of provincial inspection systems overseeing the non-federally inspected slaughter and boning establishments. Records are reviewed to ensure the removal, segregation and disposal of SRM are properly carried out and to determine the adequacy of provincial oversight for plant controls.

ER 28: Import Controls:

Outcome: Products imported into Canada meet Canadian standards.

Output: Up-to-date import controls.

Activities: Review and update current import policies and conditions for BSE as required, to reflect changes in international standards and evolving science.

T 28b: Target: Annually, when the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) updates the BSE risk status country lists.

RA 28b: Performance Target met

ER 29: BSE Surveillance:

Outcome: Safe animals and food and market access

Output: Measurement of BSE level and distribution in cattle population.

Activities: Analysis of options to redesign the BSE surveillance program and consultation with stakeholders to explore further targeting of surveillance.

Indicator: Temporal trend in exposure to the BSE agent in the cattle population.

T 29: Target: Testing 30,000 samples from the high-risk category of cattle is the minimum national target.

RA 29: In 2014-15, there was one BSE case detected on a total number of 27,409 BSE tests performed by the National TSE Network Laboratories (17,745 CFIA and 9,664 provincial). Sampling for BSE surveillance is conducted primarily on-farm or at dead stock facilities.

In Eastern Canada, sampling at dead stock facilities is consistent since contracts are signed with the facilities to hold a specified number of eligible carcasses for testing.

Sampling in Western Canada is mostly done on-farm by private practitioners. The surveillance program is reliant on producers or practitioners voluntarily submitting eligible diseased, down, dead or dying animals for sampling. If producers and practitioners do not send in samples, the numbers fall. Since BSE can mimic many other common disease conditions of cattle, it would be neither practical nor feasible to try to enforce mandatory surveillance.

However, the CFIA has worked in collaboration with provinces and industry representatives (CanSurvBSE) to encourage continued commitment to the BSE surveillance program and we continue to work with our industry and provincial partners to maintain a high level of awareness of the importance of sample submission for BSE.

ER 30: Cattle Identification:

Outcome:

Governments and other entities make informed decisions to manage animal and related human health issues

CFIA is currently refining indicator for better alignment with target for future reporting.

Indicator 3: Ratio of non-compliances versus number of Compliance Verification System (CVS) tasks carried out by CFIA staff expressed as a percentage.

T 30c: Target: 95% compliance.

RA 30c:

Performance not reviewed; implementation of CVS has not been completed, limiting the ability to report against this indicator

21 administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) issued under the program (12 AMPs issued in the previous year) out of a total of 395 AMPs issued by the CFIA (5% of total)

3 of which were Notices of Violation issued with penalty

18 of which were Notices of Violation issued with warning

Indicator 4: Percentage of responses to disease and epidemiological investigations that are completed within service standards.

T 30d: Target: 100%.

RA 30d: A trial period of the CFIA's performance measurement framework for BSE was completed, which included the effectiveness of the draft key indicators for certain program elements (as indicated above).

Indicator 1: Percentage of exports meeting the standards of the importing country as required.

T 31: Target: 100%

RA 31: Performance Target met

ER 32: Technical Market Access Support:

Outcome: Maintain or improve confidence in Canada's animal production and food system, facilitating access to domestic and international markets.

Output: Increased market demand and confidence.

Activities: Continue the establishment and maintenance of strong relationships with trading partners, and the provision of global leadership and influence concerning international policies and standards development.

Indicator: Trends in market demand for Canadian bovines and beef products; media tracking for consumer confidence in beef in Canada.

T 32: Target: An ongoing record of markets that are opened/expanded/maintained, and exports of Canadian beef and cattle.

RA 32: Target met for 2014-15.

As part of the Federal Market Access Team, a portfolio comprised of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD)), the Agency continues to support the collaborative approach to advancing Canadian agricultural interests abroad. The Federal Market Access Team works closely with industry stakeholders to open, maintain, and expand international markets for the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector. The Federal Market Access Team focuses market access efforts, set priorities, and allocates resources for markets and cross-commodity market access issues that have the greatest potential.

In 2014-15, the CFIA continued the support and undertaking of Market Access efforts. This resulted in the opening, maintaining and expanding of cattle, genetics and beef access in markets where BSE was a concern for at least 8 issues, including:

Gained access for live bulls to India;

Approval of additional beef cold storage facilities eligible to export to China; and

Gained access for all beef to Qatar

As a result of the embargo by the Russian Federation on all agri-food from Canada, the CFIA was active in engaging with the competent authorities in other countries to secure support for the redirectment of shipments which had been rejected by the Russian Federation. In addition, due to the detection of Canada's 19th case of BSE on February 11, 2015, the CFIA was active in providing investigation information and in maintaining a dialogue with trading partners' competent authorities in order to maintain their confidence in Canada's animal health and food safety systems. This approach was successful as our main trading partners (the United States, European Union, Japan and Mexico) did not impose trade restrictions on Canadian beef and beef products. Only seven markets imposed temporary trade restrictions.

Indicators:
Number of reports related to policy considerations in support of standards, directives, regulations, policies and procedures changes.

RA 33: Health Canada assessed scientific information and provided policy advice related to BSE and other TSEs in food. The Department initiated an analysis of current policies in place to better manage human health risks associated with BSE/TSE and reviewed TSE research conducted over the last ten years.

Health Canada also actively contributed to CanSurvBSE meetings to ensure an effective surveillance program for BSE and provided food safety policy advice to the CFIA to assist in enforcement and compliance activities related to scrapie and recent BSE cases in Alberta.

Training to improve use of IT tools used in tracking and analyzing release data was delivered to staff through two courses with a total of 12 participants taking either one or both courses.

Staff involved in BSE risk assessments received training in the following areas to support their evaluation activities: statistical analysis, immunology, drug product manufacturing.

Country of origin and plasma type verified for 553 lots of plasma derived product (albumins, immunoglobulins and coagulation factors and related products) released to the Canadian market, including 45 lots of human derived excipients.

A total of 14 Clinical Trial Applications and 9 Clinical Trial Application-Amendments were evaluated.

Footnotes

RA 34: A summative evaluation was completed on the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy initiatives that were undertaken between 2009 and 2013. The evaluation and Management Action Plan (MAP) were completed and posted on Health Canada's Website.

ER 35: Prion Diseases Program

Outcome: Risks of human TSEs in Canada remain clearly defined and well controlled.

Indicator: Alignment of PHAC data from human TSE surveillance with international benchmarks; number of research presentations and publications; use of policy advice in decision-making.

T 35: Targets:

Maintenance of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease surveillance sensitivity at a level where observed mortality from all human TSEs in Canada is consistent with that observed internationally i.e. 1-2 per million population.

Technological development to ensure Canadian diagnostic analyses remain consistent with those performed internationally.

Number of research presentations; and research publications per year.

RA 35:

In 2014, a total of 99 full case investigations of persons with suspected CJD were conducted by the PHAC CJD Surveillance System; of these, 47 proved to be definite or probable CJD, corresponding to a national mortality rate for 2014 of 1.32 per million population. This is a strong indicator that CJD in Canada is being monitored at a rate capable of detecting any cases of human BSE (variant CJD). However, no cases of vCJD were identified in 2014.

In 2014-2015, a total of 241 samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of persons with suspected CJD were analyzed by PHAC. In addition, 58 genetic analyses and 23 biochemical subtyping analyses were performed.

Several scientific presentations and peer-reviewed publications were produced in 2014, demonstrating both that (i) the Agency's Prion Diseases Program remains at the forefront in development of improved laboratory-based diagnostic technology for human TSEs, in particular the optimization and standardization of a novel TSE diagnostic test; and (ii) the Agency's findings and experience with CJD surveillance are being shared with key partners and stakeholders.

General Information - Renewal of Government Response and Action Plan to the 2008 Listeriosis Outbreak

Name of horizontal initiative

Renewal of Government Response and Action Plan to the 2008 Listeriosis Outbreak

Name of lead department(s)

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

Federal partner organization(s)

Health Canada (HC); and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

Non-federal and non-governmental partner(s)

Not Applicable

Start date of the horizontal initiative

2012-13

End date of the horizontal initiative

2015-16 (CFIA); 2016-17 and ongoing (HC and PHAC)

Total federal funding allocated (start to end date)

$112,900,000 (2012-13 to 2016-17) and $10,500,000 ongoing (HC and PHAC).

Funding contributed by non-federal and non-governmental partners

Not Applicable

Description of the horizontal initiative

The objective of this horizontal initiative is to continue to enhance the Government of Canada's ability to prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, pursuant to recommendations stemming from reviews of the 2008 listeriosis outbreak.

The three federal organizations, the CFIA, HC, and PHAC, received a total spending authority of $112.9 million for this initiative (CFIA: $60.4 million over four years, PHAC: $33 million over five years, and HC: $19.5 million over five years). PHAC and HC also received a total spending authority of $10.5 million for ongoing activities ($6.6 million and $3.9 million respectively). Each federal organization identified the resource requirements, strategic outcomes, objectives, and implementation plan for each program area.

Shared outcome(s)

Address Immediate Food Safety Risks by maintaining:

hired ready-to-eat meat inspection staff;

scientific and technical training programs for inspection staff;

technical support to continue enhanced connectivity for inspectors;

enhanced food safety program risk management; and

capacity for the increasing number and complexity of health risk assessments.

Enhanced Surveillance and Early Detection by maintaining:

capacity to improve and validate test detection methods for Listeria;

scientific capacity to continue additional Listeria testing;

ability to develop and improve test detection methods for Listeria and other foodborne hazards;

national public health surveillance tools and platforms through the expansion of the FoodNet Canada (formerly C-EnterNet) Program; and

Improved Government Response to Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in Canada by maintaining:

support to the Food Safety Portal;

risk communication and social marketing strategies;

human illness outbreak response capacity; and

national epidemiological surge public health outbreak capacity.

Governance structures

The CFIA, HC and PHAC currently work horizontally in delivering their shared food safety mandates. Pursuant to existing trilateral memoranda of understanding, the three partners meet regularly to discuss food safety issues of mutual concern. This governance framework includes Deputy Head, Assistant Deputy Minister, and Director General level committees, which meet regularly to discuss and plan approaches for addressing joint food safety issues. The work of the committees is also informed by the F/P/T Ministers of Health and Agriculture and their associated discussions on food safety.

In October 2013, the CFIA joined Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada in reporting to the Minister of Health. This reorganization has strengthened Canada's food safety system by bringing all three authorities responsible for food safety under one Minister. This will ensure clear focus, easy collaboration and timely communications with Canadians in relation to food safety.

Performance highlights

The CFIA continues to deliver core food safety activities stemming from the Government Response and Action Plan to the 2008 Listeriosis Outbreak. Performance highlights for 2014-15 include the following:

meat processing training was delivered to 469 inspectors;

high speed aircard access was granted to approximately 850 inspectors;

a model system for industry's control of Listeria was developed as part of the CFIA's guidance documents;

a new method for rapid confirmation of Listeria from meat and environmental samples was developed, validated and underwent technical review;

approximately 1000 environmental samples were taken in meat processing establishments;

approximately 1000 food recalls and allergy alerts were published through facebook and twitter;

a new FoodNet Canada sentinel site was implemented in Ontario;

1000 priority pathogen isolates were genetically sequenced;

next generation of laboratory fingerprinting for Campylobacter using comparative genomic fingerprinting was rolled out at three FoodNet Canada sentinel sites;

100 percent of health risk assessments were delivered within time standards;

significantly advanced the development and validation of analytical methods for the detection of Listeria and other hazards in foods; and

established strategic partnerships with Retail Council of Canada and 7 of its retail members to expand the reach of social marketing related food safety risks.

Percentage of delivered tasks related to Listeria controls and sampling that were found to be acceptable.

RA 10: In 2014-15, the CFIA was successful in maintaining the expanded workforce complement of 70 FTEs. These additional FTEs continued to deliver enhanced verification and inspection activities resulting from mandatory Listeria testing and reporting requirements in federally registered ready-to-eat meat establishments. Six different tasks were delivered related to Listeria controls and sampling. These six tasks were delivered 5,739 times in 2014-15 and 98.83% were found to be acceptable, demonstrating that food safety risks related to Listeria controls were and continue to be effectively managed in federally registered ready-to-eat meat establishments.

ER 11: Maintaining Scientific and Technical Training Programs:

Output/Activities: Continue to develop and deliver enhanced scientific and technical training programs to ensure that new and existing ready-to-eat meat products inspection staff are aware of the latest trends in science and technology related to meat processing and of updated policies.

T 11: Targets:

Number of training sessions delivered.

Number of inspectors trained, number of person days for this training.

RA 11: In 2014-15, 17 scientific and technical training sessions (Meat School) were delivered to meat processing inspectors. A total of 1,135 person days of training were delivered across the country to 469 meat processing inspectors.

ER 12: Maintaining Enhanced Connectivity for Inspectors:

Outcome: Improved management of food safety risks.

Output/Activities: Continue to provide frontline inspection staff with the ability to securely access the CFIA's network and applications through high speed internet connectivity.

T 12:
Targets:

Number of inspectors with high-speed access.

Average amount of data used per aircard.

RA 12: In 2014-15, the number of inspectors with high speed aircard access fluctuated to a maximum of 850 with an average use of 14.5 megabytes of data per month. Connectivity of inspectors is being sustained by ongoing support and maintenance of the aircards. Maintenance includes the costs of personnel to support the aircards as well as some travel, training and courier costs as device usage fluctuates based on staffing changes and changes to location based inspection models.

ER 13: Maintaining Enhanced Food Safety Program Risk Management:

Outcome: Improved management of food safety risks through the continued review of food safety programs and activities.

Output/Activities: Continue to modernize food safety standards, programs, policies and operational procedures to make them consistent and reflect current trends (e.g. rapid technological and scientific advancements in food production).

RA 13: In 2014-15, the CFIA continued to modernize food safety standards, programs, policies and operational procedures, including the following:

A thorough review of Listeria requirements was conducted during the drafting of the proposed Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR). A number of microbiological criteria for Listeria in various meat products were proposed for incorporation by reference so that they can continue to be enforced.

A new model system on Listeria requirements in food is being developed as part of a suite of guidance documents that are in the making to support the coming into force of the proposed SFCR. This model system aims to streamline Listeria requirements across commodities and is written in plain language to help small and micro businesses better understand what is expected of them.

The Technical Processes Section in the Domestic Food Safety Directorate has invested in building meat specific expertise with a focus on Listeria and other microbiological pathogens of concern. This was done by conducting visits to various meat establishments in Ontario as part of onsite-coaching and training of its junior staff to enable better policy and standards development and enhanced technical support to Centers of Expertise and Guidance upon request.

Annex H (Listeria) and Annex O (E. coli) of the Meat Hygiene Manual of Procedures have been revised and updated for consistency and clarity, based on feedback from stakeholders.

RA 14: The CFIA continued to improve and validate detection methods for Listeria in meat products and in the meat processing environment to reduce the time required to test samples and enable more rapid response during food safety investigations.

Two analysts continued to improve test detection methods for Listeria Testing in meat.

Four rapid screening methods were validated and underwent technical review. Two of the four rapid screening methods were deemed to be equivalent to the Canadian reference method and published in the Compendium of Analytical Methods (the Compendium) and available for use by both CFIA laboratories and industry.

A new method for rapid confirmation of Listeria from meat and environmental samples was developed, validated and underwent technical review. The method was accepted and published in the Compendium. In early 2015, this method was used in CFIA labs to confirm the presence of Listeria in a sample of Italian Mortadella that was linked to an illness. The use of this method allowed the laboratory to confirm the presence of Listeria in a shorter period of time (3 days vs. 5-6 days) and allowed for the recall of contaminated product in a timelier manner.

The International performance method comparison study continued. This study compares international reference methods to the Canadian reference method for Listeria in meat and meat processing environmental samples. The results of the study will be used to expedite rapid method evaluations when validations studies are performed outside of Canada. Once equivalency is deemed, CFIA will be able to accept many more rapid Listeria methods for regulatory testing.

Validation studies on different Listeria detection methods are regularly conducted as part of our ongoing work. Sample sets generally consist of over 600 samples. In 2014-15, validation studies were conducted on two different sample sets.

Output/Activities: Continue early warning of potential contamination in the food processing environment.

T 15: Targets:

Number of product and environmental samples submitted to labs for Listeria versus 2008 baseline.

Reports produced on data trends at a defined frequency.

Number of experts dedicated to trend analysis.

RA 15: CFIA continued the testing of additional ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and environmental samples, as a result of the updated Listeria Directives. Product samples for Listeria testing have increased approximately threefold since 2009. The Environmental Monitoring Program for Listeria in RTE meat establishments is ongoing. The program purchased and supplied inspectors with environmental test kits; which tested over 1000 environmental samples.

Building on CFIA's tool for establishment level trend analysis, CFIA continued to explore opportunities to collaborate with industry.

The National Listeria Trend Bulletin is prepared and published quarterly to CFIA stakeholders. The Bulletin communicates trends in Listeria prevalence.

ER 16: Maintaining Support to the Government of Canada Food Safety Portal:

Outcome: Canadians are aware of food safety risks, and they contribute to the management thereof by sourcing their food safety information via several on-line Government of Canada resources.

Output/Activities: Continue to improve public access to integrated Government of Canada food safety information.

In fiscal 2014-15, the CFIA introduced a new interactive web-based tool for consumers that provides easy-to-understand and relevant information on how to read a food label. A new online tool for industry, which provides clear guidance on labelling rules, was also developed. The CFIA also continued to post food safety information and food recalls on a variety of websites and through several distribution channels in order to reach consumers. However, with a Web Renewal Initiative underway, all Government of Canada websites are being consolidated into a single site (Canada.ca). With this change, the Food Safety Portal will no longer be permitted as a stand-alone site and will be replaced by the Health Theme of Canada.ca. The CFIA has been active in the Web Renewal Initiative and will be migrating the information on the Food Safety Portal such as the list of food recalls to Canada.ca and closing the portal by December 2016 in accordance with the TBS mandate for web renewal.

T 16: Targets:

Number of visitors and visits to food safety information on the inspection.gc.ca site (until December 2016 when food safety content will be posted on Canada.ca).

Number of followers and tweets distributed through the CFIA Food safety Twitter account.

Number of food safety related CFIA Facebook postings.

RA 16:
To help keep Canadians informed about food safety, including recalls or other incidents, the CFIA published approximately 1,000 food recalls and allergy alerts through our Facebook and Twitter accounts. The Agency uses social media to communicate recalls and allergy alerts as they happen - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

From a proactive standpoint, the CFIA published over 200 tweets and 180 Facebook food safety outreach postings on topics such as: safe food handling and storage, food safety around the holidays, food allergens and food safety for vulnerable populations, etc.CFIA continued to work collaboratively with its portfolio partners by sharing their food safety content and further increasing the reach of messaging.

E-mail alerts are also sent for each recall and alert to over 50,000 listserv subscribers on the Food Recall and Allergy Alert e-mail subscription list. In addition, through a 2013 survey of our recall list subscribers, it was determined that almost 60% of our subscribers use e-mail and social media to share the food safety and alert information they receive. There are commonly agreed to algorithms about how many people a tweet, or a blog posting, or an email reaches. By using those algorithms, our survey results can be extrapolated to show that our food recall notifications reach 1.9M more people than our original subscribers.

ER 17: Maintaining ability to respond within established service standards to the increasing number and complexity of health risk assessments and food safety investigations:

Outcome: Improved management of food safety risks.

Output/Activities: Provide risk assessments, based on the best available science and methods, within established service standards and strengthen the prevention of and response to food safety incidents.

T 17: Targets:

Number of staffing actions (hired/allocated) and level of funding allocated over time, specifically targeting the enhancement of our capacity for HRAs. Hire four new staff members in 2014-15.

Maintenance of FTEs to support HRA activities.

Number of HRAs completed within service standards.

Number of quality management practices implemented, including SOPs, templates, and inter-departmental (HC-CFIA) protocols.

National and international collaborations conducted related to risk modelling method development, refinement, testing, validation, and implementation.

RA 17:

Health Canada responded to 100% of HRAs at CFIA's request within time standards.

Health Canada is constantly striving to improve its quality management practices such as:

Update and consultation on the Weight of Evidence: Factors to Consider for Appropriate and Timely Action in a Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation.

Its leadership role on the Food Safety Health Risk Assessment Consortium to create better partnerships between federal, provincial and territorial departments/agencies responsible for food safety. The Consortium enhances the capacity for each of its members to respond to food safety and risk assessment issues.

Output/Activities: Have a suite of rapid validated tools available to industry and government partners to allow action to be taken at the earliest opportunity, thereby reducing exposure of Canadians to foodborne hazards.

T 18: Targets:

Risk assessment modelling methods and IT tools that are current, accepted, validated, and meet international standards.

Number of improved test detection methods and other laboratory diagnostic tools developed for faster detection of Listeria and other hazards in foods.

Establishment of the Chemical Methods Committee and Compendium of Methods for the Chemical Analysis of Foods.

Number of validated methods published in the Compendium of Analytical Methods or the Compendium of Methods for the Chemical Analysis of Food.

Number of FTEs hired/allocated to developing/improving microbiological and chemical methods.

Establishment of service standards and protocols for publishing microbiological or chemical methods according to the Microbiological Methods Committee (MMC) and Chemical Methods Committee (RCMC).

Establishment and description of criteria and processes to identify priority methods for validation by HC and CFIA according to the MMC and RCMC.

Number of methods prioritized for fast tracking and validation by MMC and RCMC.

Number of completed pilots and validated methodologies/prototypes for the detection of Listeria and other hazards in foods.

RA 18:

Health Canada made significant advancement in the development and validation of analytical methods for the detection of Listeria and other hazards in foods such as:

Progress on the evaluation and validation of a new culture method for the detection and isolation of Listeria monocytogenes in comparison to national and international methods and industry test kits.

Progress on the integration and validation of a microfluidic platform for rapid detection, identification and characterization of foodborne pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes in food matrices, food processing environment and water within a few hours.

Development of a new Listeria culture method for environmental samples (stainless steel).

Development of rapid methods for the identification and screening of priority toxins including mycotoxins, phycotoxins and process induced toxins. In 2014-15, advances were made in the development of rapid methods for alternariol, alternariol monomethyl ether and citrinin.

Development of a standard operating procedure describing the validation criteria and process of approval for methods which will facilitate the review and approval of existing methods for posting in a Compendium of Methods for chemical analysis of foods.

Health Canada continued to participate in a multi-laboratory governmental study to generate data on the equivalence of international culture methods for Listeria monocytogenes;

ER 19: Maintaining a Social Marketing Strategy:

Outcome: Canadians are aware of and contribute to the management of food safety risks.

Output/Activities: Continue to increase awareness and knowledge of the health risks associated with unsafe food handling practices and foodborne illness among vulnerable populations through the use of multi-faceted activities.

T 19: Targets:

Establishment of strategic partnerships to expand the reach of messaging.

Breadth of food safety marketing campaign activities and products.

Web tracking statistics.

RA 19:

1) Establishment of strategic partnerships to expand the reach of messaging.

As part of the efforts to broaden the reach of the food safety marketing campaign with an aim to increase Canadians' awareness of safe food handling practices, a pilot collaborative messaging project was rolled out with the Retail Council of Canada and 7 member retailers. Ready-to-use materials developed by Health Canada were provided to participating retailers (Co-op Atlantic, Costco, Federated Co-op, Loblaw, Metro, The Grocery People, and Walmart) for no charge placement in-store and online, reinforcing communications across multiple touch points such as in flyers, social media posts and website banners.
Additionally, continued collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education (CPCFSE) and its membership took place to further promote messaging and leverage distribution networks. Such activities included the distribution of jointly-produced barbecue cooking safety cards to public health authorities, schools, associations, retailers and other like-minded organizations for public education purposes.

Developed and distributed print and web-based content for all four at-risk audiences (Children aged 5 and under; Pregnant women; Adults aged 60 and over; People with compromised immune systems), as well as general population outreach material.

Generated new social media content (via the Healthy Canadians social media platforms)

Healthy Canadians social media channel

Results

Facebook: 52 posts on food safety topics, with a reach of 1,169,861 (times a person saw the post).

Developed syndicated articles, online videos and radio segments for free pick-up by various media outlets.

Media Type

Format

Reach
(times a person read/viewed/heard a story)

Websites (including video)

71 stories/videos

12,694,840

Community newspapers

40 stories

1,027,317

Daily newspapers

5 stories

169,630

Magazines

12 stories

2,596,000

Radio

98 segments

3,760,500

Total

226 stories/videos

20,248,287

3) Awareness and recall rates for food safety advertisements as part of the Canadian Health & Safety Campaign (ACET)

The 2013-2014 Canadian Health & Safety (CHS) ad campaign integrated a variety of health and safety messages to raise awareness among Canadian parents of the breadth of credible health and safety information available on HealthyCanadians.gc.ca and the Healthy Canadians Facebook page. Although the CHS was not funded by the Horizontal Initiative, outcomes are reported in ER 10: Maintaining a Social Marketing Strategy as one of the ad topics that pertained to safe food handling.

Two television commercials, supported by out-of-home (digital screens in medical waiting rooms) and various Internet advertisement formats, were rolled out as part of this campaign. One of the two 30-second television commercials was comprised of a food safety feature and a feature on crib safety. The ad aired for 5 weeks from February 10 – March 16, 2014.

ER 20: Maintaining national public health surveillance tools and platforms through the expansion of the FoodNet Canada program:

Outcome: Enhanced foodborne disease surveillance.

Output/Activities: Improved surveillance tools through the expansion of FoodNet Canada (formerly C-Enternet) to include at least three functional sentinel sites in Canada.

T 20: Targets:

Sentinel Site #3 human and retail products test results acquired.

Sampling conducted for all planned commodities at Sentinel Site #2 & #3

Integrated analysis for Annual Report including all 3 sites

Contracts and agreements confirmed for human cases and all planned commodities.

RA 20: The three FoodNet Canada Sentinel Sites, including the new site in Ontario, were implemented. Sampling and testing are ongoing, as well as integrated analyses. Regional and producer differences in exposures were identified as well as human illness differences and relayed for public health action.

Output/Activities: Modern genomic technologies will continue to be implemented to provide substantially more detailed information and evidence on foodborne pathogens during outbreak investigations. This will be done according to the roadmap that has been developed for the implementation of genomic epidemiology in PulseNet Canada.

T 21: Targets: Progress in the completion of PulseNet Canada Genome roadmap implementation, including the completion of sequencing 1000 retrospective priority pathogen isolates and a pilot project for time-delayed prospective sequencing of all Listeria isolates for one year.

RA 21: The Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) made significant progress in the implementation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) during 2014-15. WGS was used in real-time to support the response to 10 different foodborne disease outbreaks. This included responding to outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, and several different serovars of Salmonella, plus large-scale prospective sequencing of Listeria.

The NML also initiated the upgrade of PulseNet Canada surveillance infrastructure by upgrading the calculation engine and server to handle WGS data.

Large-scale retrospective sequencing is still underway and is expected to be completed during 2015-2016.

RA 22: The Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) rolled out next generation laboratory fingerprinting for Campylobacter using comparative genomic fingerprinting (CGF) at three sites (the current FoodNet Canada sentinel sites).

There were 34 personnel from 9 PulseNet participating laboratories certified by PulseNet Canada for Listeria this fiscal year, compared to 9 personnel from 4 laboratories at the time of the 2008 listeriosis outbreak. Overall, these numbers are not expected to change as participation among provincial laboratories has approached 100% for the past several years. Minor fluctuations due to staff turnover and training are expected.

Moving forward, expansion activities will be focused almost exclusively on the roll-out and decentralization of whole genome sequencing for routine surveillance and outbreak response.

ER 23: Maintaining human illness outbreak response capacity:

Outcome: Enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of response activities, as well as improved coordination and capacity to respond to multi-jurisdictional foodborne illness outbreaks.

Output/Activities: The development and maintenance of tools for multi-jurisdictional outbreak response, as well as maintenance of protocols to ensure awareness of processes, roles and responsibilities of F/P/T partners.

RA 23: The Outbreak Management Division (OMD) continued to support food-borne illness outbreak response capacity through ongoing maintenance of standard operating procedures and protocols. The post outbreak debrief process was developed to track and manage recommendations from Outbreak Investigation Coordinating Committees (OICC). To-date, 116 debrief recommendation items have been completed, 23 new items were identified in 2014 and 37 items remain active. Several recommendation items will be completed during the FIORP 2015 Revision process. PHAC serves as the custodian of the FIORP, the key guidance document used in the investigation and management of multi-jurisdictional foodborne illness outbreaks in Canada. As per Section 8 of the FIORP, a formal review process for the FIORP is to occur every five years to ensure the document is up to date. The FIORP was last revised in 2010 in response to the Weatherill recommendations and is due for its next revision in 2015. In light of the upcoming revision there were no planned exercises for 2014-15. Training exercises will be planned based on the results of the Enteric Outbreak Investigation Needs Assessment survey and the completion of FIORP 2015.

In order to enhance outbreak response preparedness and strengthen federal, provincial/territorial and local public health capacity, the Enteric Illness Outbreak Investigation Toolkit prototype was developed. It is the first Canadian-based, bilingual "one-stop shop" for resources and tools to assist public health practitioners involved in enteric illness outbreak investigations. The completion of the Outbreak Toolkit prototype marks a major milestone in this multi-year initiative. The prototype was distributed to 250 public health partners across Canada at various levels of government as well as academia.

Number of FTEs and/or budget allocated to train and develop Agency staff; and

Number of Directorates participating in the surge All Events Response Operations (AERO) database

RA 24: Work was initiated to develop core competencies and profiles for epidemiologists working in food-borne outbreak and related disease surveillance to address surge public health outbreak capacity needs in the Agency. However, the Agency's response to the global Ebola Crisis resulted in delays to the project. In early 2015, the Human Resources Services Group (HRSG) was retained to assist with the development of competencies and competency profiles for epidemiologist positions in the Agency. A cross Agency Epi Reference Group and Terms of Reference was developed, and will be completed by Fall 2015.

The All Events Response Operations (AERO) application was developed at the end of January 2015. Product verification and testing, including multi-stakeholder User Acceptance Testing, was completed in March 2015. The Privacy Impact Assessment was conducted and is awaiting approval, which is expected by the end of May 2015, after which the pilot testing with real information will commence.

Variance Explanations

PHAC: For ER15, all mobilization related expenses throughout the entire fiscal year were coded to Ebola response; therefore, no expenses were identified or coded under the food safety money for HSIBHPOC
Health Canada: overall variance of $51,556 or 1% was within the norm.

The objectives of this horizontal initiative are to strengthen the CFIA's and HC's food safety oversight of the fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, and manufactured food products sectors through the implementation of new programming and increased oversight activities.

These objectives are aligned to the Government of Canada Outcome of "Healthy Canadians".

The two federal organizations, CFIA and HC, received a total spending authority of $152 million over five years and $35.6 million on an ongoing basis for this initiative.

Shared outcome(s)

To strengthen Canada's food safety oversight system by implementing a preventive food safety program for fresh fruit and vegetables and resources to increase food safety oversight in the fish and seafood and the manufactured food products sectors.

Governance structures

The CFIA and HC currently work horizontally in delivering their shared food safety mandates. This is supported by a memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed in 2008, which outlines their respective roles and responsibilities as they relate to human health, and also provides links across the organizations to improve the design and delivery of integrated health-related solutions.

A governance model exists for the partner organizations to regularly convene and discuss food safety issues of mutual concern and responsibility.

This governance framework includes an Assistant Deputy Minister-level and Director General-level Committees on Food Safety that meet regularly to discuss and plan approaches for addressing joint food safety issues.

CFIA and HC will continue to work horizontally through these governance committees. As complementary components of the health portfolio, the two organizations will report results within an integrated, collaborative performance measurement framework.

Performance highlights

In 2014-15, the CFIA achieved several key objectives towards the implementation of a preventive food safety program for the fresh fruit and vegetable sector (FFV). Program design and development continued, and direction and guidance was provided to Operations Branch to broaden the scope of FFV establishment inspections. In addition, the CFIA conducted compliance promotion activities to introduce the new inspection approach to the Canadian FFV industry, including the publication of the Code of Practice for Minimally Processed Ready-to-Eat Products.

The CFIA also completed and published a guide for importers of fish and seafood products, entitled "Compliance Verification Assessment Guide for Importers of Fish Products", to further promote the culture of preventative controls in this sector.

To support the implementation of these programs, and to expand the scope of existing inspection programs, the CFIA dedicated additional resources to key activities in the Fish, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, and Imported and Manufactured Food programs. The main focus of these resources was to deliver verification activities at domestic establishments and to respond to complaints and food recalls as necessary.

CFIA laboratories offered increased testing in support of a number of food safety investigations, as well as implementing new sampling plans for Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli in sprouted seed products, while maintaining lab capacity for all routine and planned laboratory testing.

To prepare for the increased testing planned under the FSO initiative, method validation studies were conducted for Vibrio in shellfish, viruses, tetracyclines in fish and seafood, and pesticides in fresh fruits and vegetables. These studies focused on improving the scope and efficiency of CFIA testing in these areas. Furthermore, laboratory space was re-configured to allow for high volume virology sample processing while separating incompatible activities to prevent cross-contamination. This will result in an increase in sample throughput, allowing for a greater number of samples to be analyzed in a shorter amount of time.

Finally, to enhance the safety of imported products, the CFIA initiated the development of a multi-year plan for conducting foreign country assessments. In preparation for these assessments, the CFIA has developed targeted assessment tools, and engaged the Competent Food Safety Authorities of Guatemala (berries), Korea (shellfish), and Mexico (shellfish) to initiate/advance the review of their respective food safety systems.

In 2014-15, Health Canada focused on building capacity for health risk assessments, pre-market assessments, development of standards, guidelines and regulations, and food surveillance activities. Specific activities in this regard included the hiring and training of staff, development of a screening tool for infant formula regulatory submissions, and development of a project plan for a modernised regulatory approach for infant foods and infant formulas.

Nutrient profiles for three food categories were incorporated into the Canadian Nutrient File in an effort to increase the Canadian content of this surveillance tool that serves as the basis of Health Canada's health risk assessment and standard setting activities.

Health Canada continued to support CFIA by responding to 100% of Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) within time standards and provided advice as required in relation to complaints about infant formula claims on labels.

Health Canada continued to engage stakeholders for example in the development of industry led code of practice for labelling and advertising of infant formulas (i.e. in line with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes) as well as the key elements of a regulatory framework for Human Milk Fortifiers.

Footnotes

Footnote 34

Note that the FSO horizontal initiative was not reported on in the CFIAReport on Plans and Priorities 2014-15. As such, the Expected Results (ER) profiled here, including the Targets, are those published in the FSO Horizontal Information table in CFIA's Report on Plans and Priorities 2015-16.

Expected Results and Targets

ER 25: Expected Results: Preventive Food Safety Program Management

T 25: Targets: List of events and materials to support program delivery.

RA 25:

In response to Canadian food safety issues and identified gaps in preventive food safety programming, work was done in the following key areas: development of risk mitigation strategies, enhancement of program guidance for the prioritization and planning of inspections of high-risk products in the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FFV) and Fish programs, and the provision of strategic program direction and technical advice to stakeholders.

The list below highlights some of the accomplishments in this area for the 2014-15 fiscal year. Work is ongoing with respect to the continued development of the food safety inspection program for FFV.

List of events and materials

Initiated the design and development of a preventive risk-based food safety inspection program for FFV.

Provided direction and guidance to CFIA Operations Branch to broaden the scope of FFV establishment inspections, including an updated tool for capturing inspection information collected under sprouted seed establishment inspections.

Conducted compliance and promotion activities to introduce CFIA's FFV establishment inspection approach to the Canadian FFV industry, including publication of the Code of Practice for Minimally Processed Ready-to-Eat Products.

Evaluated the FFV design and outcomes of the 2014-15 inspection activities.

Published a guide for industry, "Compliance Verification Assessment Guide for Importers of Fish Products."

ER 26: Expected Result: Enhanced Inspection Activities

Increase to Inspection activities to the non-meat food areas.

T 26: Targets: Number of inspections conducted in the non-meat food area.

RA 26:

As part of the FSO initiative, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency achieved increased delivery in the following key activities:

In addition to these activities, resources were also utilized to manage an increase in food complaint investigations and recall activities, while maintaining delivery of other priority inspection activities.

ER 27: Expected Result: Increased Sampling, Testing, and Analysis

The Food Safety Oversight (FSO) initiative allowed CFIA labs to effectively respond to pressing food safety emergencies, while also maintaining lab capacity for all routine and planned testing activities. CFIA labs offered testing support for a number of food safety investigations, including the testing of over 400 samples of sprouts and environmental samples in support of a large scale E. coli illness outbreak in Alberta; testing of multiple samples of frozen berries in support of a cluster of Hepatitis A illness cases; testing of prepared foods for various foodborne viruses and foodborne bacteria in response to an illness outbreak at a hotel convention; testing of numerous imported seed and seed products in support of a Salmonella food safety investigation linked to illnesses; and the testing of over 150 sprouted seed products and environmental samples in support of a cross-jurisdictional Salmonella outbreak in both the US and Canada linked to the consumption of Chia and Flax sprouted seed products. In addition to supporting testing requests for samples submitted under food safety investigations, CFIA labs implemented new sampling plans for sprouted seed products for samples collected from retail. Over 170 samples were collected under these new sample plans and tested for Salmonella and E. coli.

T 27b: Targets: Validated methods developed and implemented to support increased testing in the non-meat food areas.

RA 27b:

CFIA labs conducted method validation studies in preparation for the increased testing planned under the FSO initiative. These studies included the validation of a sensitive detection method for Vibrio in shellfish samples. This method offered a considerable reduction in the amount of time required to analyse samples. As an expansion to this method, CFIA labs are also validating a next generation technology method which has the potential to offer same-day test results. This novel method will reduce the time required to analyse shellfish samples for Vibrio in half (from 3 to 4 days to 1 to 2). Validation work is ongoing in 2015-16.

To prepare for additional Virology samples in different types of foods, CFIA labs conducted method verification studies by experimentally adding known amounts of Norovirus and Hepatitis A virus to representative foods of the most prevalent type of commodity received under the FSO (e.g. frozen berries), in order to verify method performance in each testing lab.

Furthermore, lab space was re-configured to allow for high volume virology sample processing while separating incompatible activities to prevent cross-contamination. This will result in an increase in sample throughput, allowing for a greater number of samples to be analyzed in a shorter amount of time.

CFIA Food chemistry laboratories have under taken a number of projects to expand and improve testing methods. In anticipation of additional testing for aquacultured fish products, the scope of testing for tetracycline antibiotics has been expanded. The method has now been transferred to analytical instrumentation that will provide more definitive identification, increased sensitivity and greater through-put resulting in an overall improved service to the Agency. The multi-residue analysis methods used for the determination of pesticides in fresh fruit and vegetables have been expanded to include additional targets.

ER 28: Expected Result: Foreign Country Assessments

Increased Foreign Country Assessments of priority areas

T 28: Targets: Establish baseline of foreign country assessments and show increase of foreign country assessments.

RA 28:

In preparation to conduct foreign country assessments beginning in 2015-16, the CFIA conducted the following activities:

Initiated the development of a risk-based multi-year plan for the non-meat foreign country assessments with the focus on shellfish and FFV foreign systems assessments.

In consultation with internal and external partners, completed the development of targeted assessment tools for the document review of the Guatemalan food safety system for berries, and for the Korean food safety system for shellfish.

Engaged with the Competent Food Safety Authorities of Guatemala (berries), Korea (shellfish) and Mexico (shellfish) to initiate/advance the review of their respective food safety systems.

Responded to foreign government audits of the Canadian food safety systems for non-meat commodities (e.g.US audit of potatoes, China audit of canola oil and fish/dairy commodities).

ER 29a: Expected Result: Standard Setting

Development of new and/or updated standards is initiated in 100% of cases where there is an identified need to do so in order to address food safety risks

T 29a: Targets: 100% of cases where there is an identified need to do so in order to address food safety risks

RA 29a:

Health Canada initiated new and/or updated standards in 100% of cases where there was an identified need to do so in order to address food safety risks, specifically for the following standards:
Updated the existing lead Maximum Levels:

Proposed new standard on arsenic in apple juice

Updated the current arsenic standard in bottled water consulted on

Initiated updates to 3 deoxynivalenol (DON) Maximum Levels

Health Canada also initiated the investigation for the development of new standards for yessotoxins and completed the aluminum risk assessment update for possible revisions of existing standards.

Microbiological research activities were initiated to support eventual standard setting for non-meat food commodities. For example, a study was conducted to determine the levels of Salmonella on recalled food products (i.e., sprouted chia and flax seed powders, sprouted sunflower seeds) in support of risk assessments.

Health Canada published the Guidance Document on Unpasteurized Fruit Juice and Cider.

T 29b: Targets: TBD since it will depend on the number and type of standards being developed

RA 29b:

Health Canada engaged its stakeholders in support of standard development through various engagement activities (i.e.: meetings, teleconferences, listserv messages, etc.); consultations on documents for web posting, the International Food Chemical Safety Liaison Group (IFCSLG) on a number of initiatives involving standard setting activities on a quarterly basis, and through Codex at the international level on 6 different occasions on a number of initiatives involving standard setting activities.

ER 29c: Expected Result: Standard Setting

Number of risk assessments developed in support of standard setting initiatives

T 29c: Targets: TBD since it will depend on the number and type of standards being developed

RA 29c:

Health Canada developed 7 detailed risk assessments in support of developing new and/or existing standards related to food chemical safety.

Nutrient profiles for three food categories – baby foods, soups and margarines – were incorporated in the Canadian Nutrient File (CNF), a surveillance tool that serves as the basis of Health Canada's health risk assessment and standard setting activities.

ER 29d: Expected Result: Standard Setting

Number of detection methods developed and enhanced in support of standard setting initiatives

T 29d: Targets: TBD since it will depend on the number and type of standards being developed

RA 29d:

Health Canada further developed and/or further enhanced two detection methods (a multi phycotoxin method and A multi mycotoxin method).

Health Canada continued the development of rapid microfluidic-based tools for the detection and characterization of emerging pathogens in non-meat commodities (e.g., parasites, viruses).

Health Canada initiated the following initiatives to strengthen its capacity to respond to HRA requests from the CFIA within service standard timelines established to further protect Canadians:

Technical training was provided to scientific evaluators in anticipation of future demands for HRAs resulting from enhanced inspection activities in produce and seafood products.

Health Canada continued to improve/revise standard operating procedures, report templates, work instructions and other HRA resources to expedite delivery of HRAs and to develop a more systematic approach to these assessments.

Health Canada consulted on the Weight of Evidence: Factors to determine appropriate and timely action in a Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation.

Health Canada purchased critical Nielsen market share volume data for the surveillance and monitoring of foods in support of the development of standard settings and Health Risk Assessment-related activities.

The CFIA was created in 1997 to enhance food safety systems through the consolidation of inspection and quarantine services that were being delivered by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Health Canada (HC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Industry Canada. The current inspection system comprises numerous independent inspection delivery models.

In Budget 2011, the Government of Canada committed funding amounting to $96.8 million to the CFIA to improve and modernize its food safety inspection system. In support of the identified Agency's modernization initiatives, HC received $3.0M to enhance its health risk assessment capacity.

The main objective of this modernization initiative was to move the CFIA away from a system of independent commodity-specific inspection approaches and inspector training, and paper-based record keeping and interactions with stakeholders, to that of a single-inspection approach consistent across the food safety program, supported by standardized training, technology information solutions, enhanced proactive science capacity and improved service to stakeholders.

The plan consisted of three elements:

inspection system modernization, including the development of an improved inspection model which would provide standardized activities across the food program, national training for inspectors, enhanced Listeria control in high-risk ready-to-eat foods, enhanced HC health risk assessment capacity in support of CFIA modernization activities, and the IM/IT enablement of the integrated Agency inspection model and the export certification process;

supporting risk-based decision-making through enhanced scientific capacity, including a proposal for a food laboratory network, enhanced capacity for scientific testing and improved facilities and equipment; and

increasing efficiency through improved information management and information technology, including data storage and back-up capacity; enhanced connectivity, and more support for inspector tools such as wireless devices and laptops.

Shared outcome(s)

Modernization of the CFIA's inspection system by providing up-to-date and relevant training and necessary technology support to inspectors. This shared outcome addresses the increasing complexity of inspection associated with industry advancements in food production and international advancements to improve food safety systems.

Governance structures

The CFIA has imposed an internal governance framework for the delivery of activities related to Food Safety Modernization. The CFIA's Senior Management Committee, chaired by the President, provides direction for initiatives and is accountable for overall implementation. Three VP-level advisory committees responsible for each of the three elements (inspection system modernization, science, and IM/IT) report to the Agency's Senior Management Committee and are accountable for ensuring that activities are on track and on budget. Each has individual governance structures, led by a business sponsor and a dedicated project manager, with representation from all implicated areas.

Performance highlights

For 2014-15, CFIA finalized high level business processes for the improved food inspection model (formerly known as the improved inspection delivery model). Project and expenditure approval were granted for the IM/IT enablement of the improved food inspection model and the export certification process (the Electronic Service Delivery Platform (ESDP) project). The ESDP project team worked with stakeholders to develop detailed business requirements and to determine the fit of those requirements to available technologies. With respect to the implementation of Health Canada's Listeria policy for non-meat ready-to-eat food, the Agency continued staffing actions to provide additional inspection staff for inspection activities in high-risk areas, validate new laboratory methodologies for Listeria in non-meat commodities, and analyze additional food and environmental samples. CFIA subject matter experts provided refresher training to existing staff to keep inspectors current with emerging trends and developments related to their work. The core training program was adjusted to align with the new inspection model as it was developed and refined.

To enhance scientific capacity in 2014-15, the CFIA assembled a team to work with partners and explore with experts the concepts, processes, and mechanisms available to conduct a laboratory systems analysis of the Canadian food laboratory system. Partners explored data and information requirements and opportunities in anticipation of future feasibility assessments, with respect to the use of existing feasibility assessments, or in the creation of an IM/IT platform for secure data sharing. The Modernizing Equipment and Laboratories sub-projects at the GTA and St-Hyacinthe Food laboratories have moved into the Project Planning stage with the St-Hyancinthe project having awarded contracts for the engineering/design phase of the projects. Actual execution started with construction in 2014-15. Additionally, highly skilled scientists were hired in targeted laboratories.

CFIA continued to increase efficiency in IM/IT by collaborating with Shared Services Canada (SSC) to create a new Data Centre Backup/Restore site to handle the increased requirements of modernized inspection systems. Improvements to end-user assets continued with the distribution of more portable end-user devices and improved wireless network connectivity. The IM/IT Branch continued consultations with their business partners in the Agency to modernize various components of the IM/IT infrastructure of the organization to better meet the needs of the inspectors in the field. The CFIA strengthened its information integration capability by introducing Agency-wide data standards. Planning commenced for desktop operating system and tool upgrading and standardization as well as for increased data storage and backup capacity.

As per TBSRPP guidance, the 2014-15 planned spending numbers includes only those resources which have received TB approval as at February 1st, 2015. It does not include $12,891,374 of FSM funding earmarked for the CFIA and for which TB approval will be requested after February 1st, 2015.

Outcome: The development and sequential implementation of an integrated Agency inspection model that will result in the improved management of food safety risks.

Outputs and Activities: A single food inspection program will be developed in support of the CFIA's transformation agenda. The integrated Agency inspection model will include standard collection, reporting and analysis across all food, plant and animal programs and will provide a more consistent inspection and enforcement approach for regulated parties.

T 31a: Targets:

Engagement of stakeholders both internally and externally to promote the understanding of the CFIA's transformation agenda.

Identification of high level business processes and vision of business functions to support the effective implementation of the integrated Agency inspection model.

Prioritization of key activities within the integrated Agency inspection model to support a sequenced transformation agenda.

RA 31a:

Outcomes: Develop a sequential implementation approach and strategy for the integrated Agency inspection model which seeks to provide a more predictable, productive, and consistent inspection approach.

Outputs: Successful engagement activities for both internal and external stakeholders were undertaken to increase awareness of how the integrated Agency Inspection Model fits within the larger CFIA transformation agenda.

Verifying Compliance with HC's Revised Listeria Policy

Outputs and Activities: The Agency will enhance inspection and testing activities to verify industry control of Listeria in all high-risk, non-meat ready-to-eat (RTE) food. The Agency will maintain the number of inspections and samples taken and analyzed and provide technical support for risk assessments resulting from positive findings. Sampling data will be used to support risk-based decision-making. Industry will be encouraged to implement preventative Listeria control programs. New Listeria testing methods will be validated and trend analysis will be developed.

Outcome: There was an improvement in the compliance levels of the non-meat foods and non-meat processing environment samples since the implementation of Heath Canada's Listeria Policy.

Outputs and Activities:CFIA continued to enforce Health Canada's Listeria Policy through monitoring sampling conducted by inspectors to verify the effectiveness of the control measures, which are used to eliminate, inhibit, and prevent the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in non-meat Foods.

On-going trend analysis of the Listeria RTE non-meat food and non-meat processing environment data will support the continuous improvement of the food safety programs and provide Canadians with better protection.

Electronic Service Delivery Platform (ESDP) Project

Outcome:ESDP will provide a set of technologies and tools for citizens, Industry, and CFIA inspectors as they carry out their respective roles under the new inspection model. It will provide an electronic platform that will more readily allow access to CFIA programs and to conduct regular business transactions.

Outputs and Activities:ESDP will enable the Integrated Agency Inspection Model (iAIM) and the electronic delivery of export certificates. ESDP will seek to standardize and automate processes, provide information on resource utilization, activities, results and compliance issues; and provide operational performance data for analysis and tracking.

T 31c: Targets:

Provide more predictable, efficient, and reliable service to industry and thereby increase industry competitiveness and confidence.

Increase the effectiveness and transparency of the inspection process and thereby maintain the public's confidence in Canada's safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base.

Optimize inspection coverage by enabling management to continually reallocate the inspectorate to changing priorities throughout the year.

Efficiencies in reduction of applications that support licensing, inspection and certification activities

RA 31c:

Outcome: In 2014-15, the Agency sought and received Expenditure Authority to execute the development and the deployment of the system to be automated.

Outputs and Activities: The Agency has completed activities to seek an Expenditure Authority to plan and secure resources to enable the development, build and roll-out of the specific automation of business operations.

Recruitment and Training of Inspectors

Outcome: The development and implementation of a national recruitment strategy to provide inspection managers with qualified candidates when and where required. The training process for inspection staff within the CFIA will be designed to meet the requirements of the Integrated Agency Inspection Model.

Outputs and Activities: Build a culture of recruitment to increase the awareness of the Agency as an employer of choice, leverage technology to assess and place candidates more efficiently and develop strategy for remote locations. Training strategy for inspection community aligned with the competency-based curriculum for inspection staff.

T 31d:
Targets:

Number of Agency employees trained.

Number of Agency inspectors trained.

RA 31d:

Outcome: Collaboration with the USFDA and the International Food Protection Training Institute is continuing for the further development of the training frameworks. The Safe Food Canada - A Learning Partnership was incorporated in August 2014. It is a partnership between governments, industry and academia. Its goal is to facilitate collaboration on: the acceptance of common competencies, the development of training standards for design and delivery of training, and the use of common delivery methods.

Outputs and Activities: Five design and development sessions, involving 59 participants were held. Training on: the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, Compliance Verification using a Preventative Control Plan, an Introduction to Risk Culture at the CFIA and training to support the launch of the Standard Inspection Process was developed. Teaching Techniques for Occasional Trainers were delivered to 87 participants. These newly trained trainers will be delivering the training to support Agency transformation in FY 2015 - 16.

ER 32: Enhancing Laboratory Response Capacity

Outcome: The CFIA is able to detect and respond faster to food safety hazards.

Outputs and Activities: The number of highly skilled scientists in targeted laboratories will be enhanced through hiring additional scientists. New rapid, scientific, and sensitive food safety testing methods will be developed.

Modernizing Equipment and Laboratories

Outputs and Activities: Complete laboratory expansion and renovation of targeted laboratories. Laboratory equipment will be upgraded with the procurement of modern testing equipment.

T 32: Targets:

Expansion and Renovation projects completed on schedule.

Procurement of equipment.

Scientists hired.

Collaborative projects established with experts.

Enhanced and newly developed food testing methods.

RA 32:

Outcomes:CFIA's collaborative research project with Genome Canada and Alberta Innovates on Biosolutions on Listeria monocytogenes genomics was completed.

The modernization and renovation projects at both the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and St Hyacinthe Food laboratories have progressed to actual project execution.

Outputs and Activities:

CFIA's collaborative research project with Genome Canada and Alberta Innovates on Biosolutions on Listeria monocytogenes genomics has been completed. A draft report has been submitted to Genome Canada and Alberta Innovates for approval; genome methods will undergo formal validation and roll-out in CFIA laboratories with adoption over the next two years (2015-16, 2016-17).

Work on CFIA's research project with Genome Canada and Alberta Innovates on Biosolutions on E. coli O157:H7 genomics is ongoing.

CFIA has become a national and international leader in the field of food safety genomics. CFIA Scientists are leading national and international research collaborations to expand the utility of genomics methodology to build emergency response capability to support food safety investigations, identify food bacterial isolates definitively, and establish international best practices for the analysis and interpretation of bioinformatic data.

ER 33: Improved IM/IT

Outcome: To provide the Agency and Agency staff with stable and up-to-date information management capabilities and tools that will enable the implementation and execution of the modernized inspection delivery model.

Outputs and Activities: Information Management and Integration, information access to the front-line staff through increased connectivity and modernized applications.

T 33: Targets:

Once established, data governance processes and business intelligence reporting will be further strengthened and made more operational.

The foundations created for new, modernized applications, and an architecture program initiated, new infrastructure, processes and tools will continue to be introduced and mobility/connectivity will be assessed.

Overall, compliance with TBS policies on application portfolio management will be improved.

RA 33:

Outcomes: The CFIA established the IM/IT Architecture Program to ensure that robust Agency-wide IM/IT blueprints, known as "reference architectures," are developed and used to strategically prioritize, scope, and align all IM/IT investments to better support business requirements, improve service delivery, and achieve operational efficiencies. More specifically, this program allows the Agency to advance integrated IM/IT solutions that drive effectiveness and efficiency in delivering the Agency's mandate through:

Outputs and Activities:

Integrated analysis and solution design against reference architectures to identify opportunities for consolidation, to reduce costs and duplication of effort, and to improve IM/IT performance and service delivery

Improved processes and collaboration within and across business lines to inform the development and implementation of strategic IM/IT capabilities that support business requirements

Effective management of IM/IT product lifecycles to ensure capabilities evolve over time and continue to reflect industry trends, partner organization dependencies, and business requirements

Improved IM/IT Architecture governance that is integrated with the overall Branch and Agency governance and investment processes, and formally incorporated into the Enterprise Project Management Framework; and

Strategic planning to ensure that IM/IT investments align with the direction of CFIA, Shared Services Canada, and the Government of Canada.

In response to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) government-wide Application Portfolio Management (APM) strategy, the CFIA initiated the development of its own strategy for replatforming several IM/IT applications to more effectively support new and evolving business requirements. As a result, several of CFIA's applications were successfully migrated to modern technology platforms. The key benefits of replatforming these applications include:

reduced risk to the agency of application failure

decreased costs for maintenance of applications due to modernized and simplified application architectures

faster response times to problems and emergency requests

reduced costs, time, and risks related to future IM/IT projects

improved alignment with the overall IM/IT architecture direction of the Agency; and

increased compliance with the Government of Canada APM Strategy, TBS security, accessibility, and common look and feel policies.

Outcome:CFIA-led food safety investigations will be supported by timely health risk assessments that will further support swift action being taken to minimize/mitigate the potential exposure of Canadians to hazards in food associated illnesses.

Outputs and Activities:
Health Canada will build additional flexibility in its health risk assessment capacity to sustain its current level of service through the hiring of additional employees, ongoing training, review and analysis of health risk assessment activities, and the proactive development of new policies and guidelines, where appropriate.

T 34: Targets: 90% of HRAs at CFIA's request responded to within time standards.

RA 34:

HC responded to 100% of Canadian Food Inspection Agency generated Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) within the service standard.

Continued technical training of scientific evaluators to maintain and improve Health Canada's capacity to conduct HRAs, including afterhours HRAs.

Continued improvements/revisions to standard operating procedures, report templates, work instructions and other HRA resources to expedite delivery of HRAs and develop a more systematic approach to these assessments. As an example, maintained a review of assessments as part of continuous improvement and expanded capability.

Updated and consulted on the Weight of Evidence: Factors to Consider for Appropriate and Timely Action in a Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation.

Continued to maintain and to consolidate various databases in order to respond to all HRAs at CFIA's request in a swift manner such as the update of the database based on data obtained from other government departments and the food research division to help inform chemical HRAs, and the Health Canada consolidated datasets on potential chemical hazards in foods.

A Canadian Food Safety Information Network to strengthen the ability to anticipate, detect, and respond to food hazards. The CFSIN will link federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) food safety authorities and food testing laboratories across Canada.

Shared outcome(s)

Integrated and strengthened national laboratory capacity and capability to respond to food safety incidents and emergencies;

A pan-Canadian approach to food safety surveillance to better demonstrate system effectiveness to trading partners.

Governance structures

The CFIA's Vice President, Science is the Executive Sponsor for the implementation of the CFSIN.

A CFSINFPT Steering Committee has been established to provide integrated federal-provincial leadership, input and guidance for the development and implementation of the CFSIN program component and associated food safety activities.

The Executive Sponsor chairs an interdepartmental Special Project Advisory Committee (SPAC) to provide oversight and guidance for the project component (IM/IT enablement) for the CFSIN initiative. For horizontality and transparency, a provincial member of the FPTCFSIN Steering Committee also participates.

The Senior Management Committee (SMC), chaired by the CFIA President, provides direction for the initiative and is accountable for overall implementation of the CFSIN.

The CFIA, HC, and the Public Health Agency work horizontally in delivering their shared food safety mandates and meet regularly to discuss food safety issues of mutual concerns. Additionally, regularly scheduled, targeted discussions regarding the implementation of the CFSIN also occur.

Footnotes

Footnote 39

Note that the CFSIN horizontal initiative was not reported on in the CFIAReport on Plans and Priorities 2014-15. As such, the Expected Results (ER) profiled here, including the Targets, are those published in the CFSIN Horizontal Information table in CFIA's Report on Plans and Priorities 2015-16.

A total of $42,364,328 of federal funding is to be allocated to the initiative. However, CFIA and its partners will be seeking access to this funding in phases over the life of the initiative. A total of $15,606,877 over 5 fiscal years has been approved and is included in the planned spending amounts presented in the 2015-16 RPP. Planned spending amounts will be updated accordingly as future TB approvals are received. The above amounts do not include in-kind contribution funding made by the CFIA or HC.

Variance Explanation

The variance is due to the late reception of the funds which caused delays in staffing and related expenditures.

ER 35: Data Support, Coordination and Outreach

Outcome: Improve and strengthen the availability and reliability of food testing capacity and capabilities across Canada.

Output / Activities: The CFIA will begin outreach activities with FPT partners to confirm participation in the CFSIN through bilateral data sharing opportunities. The CFIA will also expand outreach and engagement with private laboratories including activities associated with laboratory quality management and accreditation. The CFIA, with its partners, will begin the development of a common food safety data dictionary and identification of data elements to be shared.

T 35: Targets: Minimum of one data sharing agreement signed in 2014-15. Completed draft data dictionary to support data sharing and integration activities.

RA 35: Engagement/outreach activities commenced with the provinces on data sharing activities. CFIA has engaged face-to-face with the provincial ministries of Health and Agriculture for both British Columbia and Alberta.

A face-to-face CFSINFPT Steering Committee meeting was held in Ottawa in November 2014 to discuss the implementation of CFSIN. Both provincial and federal partners were in attendance at this meeting.

A FPT data dictionary working group has been established with both federal and provincial participants.

ER 36: Environmental Scanning

Output / Activities: Working with FPT partners to advance a more collaborative and systematic approach to identifying new and emerging threats to the food supply, tracking new scientific findings or social concerns, and monitoring domestic and international trends in food safety to improve food safety programs. Begin development for a systematic pan-Canadian approach to searching and cataloguing intelligence and information.

RA 36: Activities to develop an inventory of environmental scanning and intelligence resources has commenced.

ER 37: Enhanced IM/IT Architecture

Outcome:CFIA data sources for food safety testing results are aggregated and can be used for trending and analysis in support of food safety programs and policy development.

Output / Activities: Working with CFSIN partners in gathering requirements towards achieving the stated outcome. Developing the CFSIN project deliverables and associated artefacts to seek Treasury Board approval for the next phase of the CFSIN project.

T 37: Targets: Complete project documentation to support further approval for the next project phase of the CFSIN initiative in January 2016.

RA 37: Project deliverables and associated artefacts for this phase of the CFSIN project have commenced.

ER 38: Development of the New Food Safety Module on CNPHI Platform

Outcome: Completion of Requirements Gathering and of preliminary Configuration for the new non-data dependent food safety sub-modules.

T 38: (as published in the CFIA's Report on Plans and Priorities 2015-16): 100% completion by 2015-16 of Requirements Gathering for non-data dependent sub-modules, and 40% completion by 2015-16 of Configuration for these sub-modules.

RA 38: In 2014-15, the Public Health Agency initiated early discussions with the CFIA on high level requirements for the non-data dependent sub-modules to be established on the CNPHI platform.

RA 39: Health Canada coordinated with the CFIA and the Public Health Agency to develop a plan to establish the CFSIN. HC contributed to the development and to the release of the Canadian Laboratory Information Network (CANLINE) application within Health Canada and with Shared Services Canada. HC also provided training on the use of CANLINE and outreach support to expand the use of CANLINE within HC food science laboratories.

General Information - Plum Pox Monitoring and Management Program (PPMMP)

Plum Pox Virus (PPV) is a viral plant disease that infects Prunus species, including peach, plum, apricot and other stone fruit plants. PPV does not affect human or animal health but reduces fruit yields, mottles leaves, and causes visual symptoms on stone fruit, thus reducing their marketability. The virus is spread locally by aphids (insects) and through the movement of infected propagative material, including live trees of all age classes, rootstock, bud wood, cuttings or other green branches and twigs, and tissue cultures.

PPV was first discovered in Ontario and Nova Scotia in 2000. The Government of Canada responded in 2001 with a three-year, $49.3 million PPV program to suppress the disease, and to evaluate the feasibility of its eradication. Based on the recommendations of a PPV International Expert Panel, the seven-year Plum Pox Eradication Program (PPEP) was launched in 2004 ($85 million) and augmented in 2007 with an additional $58.6 million totaling $143.6 million in federal and Ontario government funding. The PPEP expired on March 31, 2011.

PPV has been eradicated in six of the seven quarantine areas established at the beginning of the eradication program. These six quarantine areas are Blenheim, Fonthill, Stoney Creek and Vittoria in Ontario, and the Annapolis Valley and Wolfville in Nova Scotia. Although eradication was not achieved in the remaining quarantine area in Niagara, the infection rate has been reduced from 1.9% of tree samples to less than 0.02% in 2010. The perimeter and a 10 km area around the remaining quarantine area continues to be surveyed and monitored. The detection of one PPV case in 2013 resulted in an 800 m extension of the western border of the Niagara quarantine area. By implementing a PPV monitoring and management (PPMMP) strategy, PPV will remain in the Niagara region, and the industry will thus need to manage the risks it poses to the production and marketability of products.

The PPMMP consists of regulatory plant protection activities, and for the first five years of the program, significant research will be carried out to develop PPV risk mitigation tools and educational and awareness program components to build the capacity within the industry to implement best management practices.

Budget 2011 allocated $17.2 million over five years to the CFIA and AAFC for PPMMP, to transition to a management and monitoring strategy to contain and mitigate the spread of plum pox.

Shared outcome(s)

The outcome of the Government's PPMMP is to fulfill the Government of Canada's plant protection obligations and international responsibilities through implementation of measures to mitigate the spread of PPV on a national and international level. The PPMMP's other outcome is to facilitate industry management of PPV.

Governance structures

The CFIA's PPMMP activities and deliverables are managed and governed by the Plant Business Line Committee, as PPV is an established, regulated plant pest requiring ongoing decision-making to protect Canada's plant resource base. Also, AAFC's A-Base activities are managed and governed by the Director General (DG) of the Mixed Wood Plains directorate. The DG has the final "sign-off" authority for AAFC Science and Technology Branch activities, including the PPMMP. An AAFC Research Development and Technology (RDT) Director has been assigned as responsible for ensuring that PPV research activities are implemented, managed and reported as required. A PPV Steering Group (PPV-SG), consisting of CFIA and AAFC director-level officials, was established for the first five years to make recommendations about program delivery to the above CFIA and AAFC governance committees. The PPV-SG liaises with internal and external stakeholders as required, including international plant protection bodies, to provide updates and seek input about program and research parameters at stakeholder conferences and meetings. After a period of five years, when AAFC's role in the PPMMP has concluded, the CFIA's Plant Business Line Committee will be responsible for managing the PPMMP on an ongoing basis.

Performance highlights

In 2014-15, a total of 9,930 samples were collected from the quarantine area perimeter and surrounding area. All samples were tested and PPV was not detected. Commercial production areas and residential properties were inspected to ensure compliance with the propagation ban. Notices were issued to non-compliant individuals. Research activities were conducted and will be used to improve the regulatory program where applicable.

Footnotes

ER 40: Monitoring and Detection:

Outcome: Mitigate the spread of PPV on a national and international level.

Outputs and Activities: Monitoring activities will be carried out by the CFIA to confirm and adjust the boundaries of the Niagara quarantine area as necessary. In accordance with NAPPO guidelines, the CFIA will conduct detection activities annually by taking samples along the Niagara quarantine area perimeter. Laboratory testing of the samples to determine the presence of PPV will be conducted by the CFIA. To detect whether PPV has spread beyond the quarantine area, samples will be collected annually in orchards up to 10 km beyond the Niagara quarantine area perimeter.

Indicator: Established quarantine areas and areas with PPV-susceptible species will determine the location where sampling will occur. Samples will be collected from these species (peach, plum, nectarine, apricot) located inside and outside of the quarantine area.

T 40:
Targets:
An estimated 22,850 samples will be taken and tested annually until 2015-16 and reduced to 17,000 samples in 2016-17 and onward. Total samples are determined based on sampling protocol which is reviewed annually and actual PPV-susceptible species. Adjustments to quarantine areas and grower/resident plantings influence final sample numbers.

RA 40: A total of 9,930 samples were collected from the quarantine area perimeter and surrounding area. All samples were tested and PPV was not detected. As per the 2014-15 sampling plan, samples were not collected from British Columbia or Quebec. A review of the 2014-15 and on-going sampling plan was conducted to align the plan with international standards. As a result of this review, samples were not collected in other areas of Ontario or Nova Scotia.

ER 41: Regulatory Enforcement:

Outcome: Mitigate the spread of PPV on a national and international level.

Outputs and Activities: Through its inspection activities, the CFIA will monitor and assess regulated parties' compliance with the PPMMP regulatory requirements. Monitoring activities include issuing Movement Certificates for regulated material (dormant root stock, seedlings, seeds, and plant material for research) and conducting audits and compliance verifications of retail outlets, nurseries and other facilities that may sell or distribute susceptible Prunus species. When a non-compliance is identified, the CFIA will take the most appropriate response to obtain compliance in view of factors such as potential or actual harm, the compliance history of the regulated party, and intent.

To help maintain a lower level of virus prevalence within the quarantine area, a prohibition on propagation of regulated Prunus plants within the quarantine area will continue. The prohibition on propagation will result in the use of only PPV-free or certified clean stock (planting material that is free of all viruses including PPV) within the Niagara quarantine area.

Indicator: Compliance of growers, residents and retailers within the quarantine area with movement restrictions.

T 41: Targets:
Annual inspection of a sub-set of growers, residents and retailers to determine if movement of material or propagation has occurred.

RA 41: Inspectors issued movement certificates for approved material following compliance verification of regulated parties. Information regarding the continued propagation ban was distributed through local newspapers and targeted audiences. Commercial production areas and residential properties were inspected (1/3 of quarantine area sub-set) to ensure compliance with the propagation ban. Inspectors issued Notices of Prohibition or Restriction of an Activity to non-compliant individuals. One Administrative Monetary Penalty was issued to an individual who did not comply with the requirements of the Notice of Prohibition or Restriction of an Activity.

ER 42: PPV Regulatory Research

Outcome: Restrain the prevalence of PPV in the Niagara region, mitigate the spread on a national and international level.

Outputs and Activities: To support the clean stock program, a research study is being conducted by the CFIA to develop strategies for eliminating PPV from rootstock. This program supports the enforcement of the propagation prohibition. The most effective method(s) for eliminating PPV from infected nursery stock materials will be evaluated so that desirable foreign varieties may become eligible for use by industry through clean stock services.

Regulatory research will also develop improved detection tools and more extensive knowledge about PPV to support PPV surveillance, monitoring and detection. CFIA research projects include characterizing genetic variation within individual strains of PPV found in Canada, monitoring for the introduction of new strains, and mapping the movement of the virus in Canada.

Beyond 2016, the CFIA will conduct similar research, such as evaluating the host range for newly discovered strains of PPV to determine the range of Prunus hosts to be regulated in Canada. This research will ensure that the ongoing regulatory program remains effective in mitigating the spread of PPV.

The requirement of a comprehensive list of host plants for new strains of PPV detected in Canada is to enhance surveillance protocols and industry awareness

Indicator: In total, three indicators are identified:

Protocol for the production of virus-free nursery stock for domestic and export clean stock programs using virus elimination techniques.

A genetic map to understand the movement of PPV strains and isolates to allow for continuous improvement of regulatory surveillance protocols.

Identification of protocols for the detection of any new strains and isolates of PPV not previously reported in Canada.

T 42: Target: Development of a protocol for virus elimination. Genetic mapping and identification of new strains are dependent on the number of samples collected that test positive. The list of host plants is variable depending on the identification of new strains and isolates in Canada during routine surveillance activities.

RA 42: Support of Clean Stock Programs

A virus elimination protocol was developed using in vitro thermotherapy followed by meristem culturing. This method was selected from five methods examined because it: 1) eliminated PPV from plantlets; and (2) was technically feasible and produced bacteria-free plants. This technique is now being applied to cherries infected with Prune Dwarf Virus (PDV) and Prunus Necrotic Ringspot Virus (PNRSV).

Genetic mapping and identification of new strains

To date, target sequence data have been generated for a total of 107 Canadian Plum pox virus (PPV) isolates obtained from commercial orchards. These include isolates from: (a) Nova Scotia; (b) "Legacy" isolates from the early PPV detection in Canada between the years of 2000 – 2003; and samples collected during the Plum Pox Virus Eradication Program (PPEP) in 2009 and 2010. The virus genome regions targeted for initial sequencing include the P3/6K1 and CP regions of the genome. These regions allow for accurate identification and strain classification and provide information that allows identification of potential recombination isolates. All isolates were confirmed to be PPV-Dideron (PPV-D) isolates without any recombination events detected. To date, a single anomalous isolate was identified, completely sequenced and confirmed to be a PPV-D isolate. Phylogenetic analysis of the available sequences revealed no clustering based on a year of sampling, geographic or farm origins. This may be evidence of vector transmission or simply random movement of infected propagative material. Analysis of the data is ongoing, including the analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and amino acid residues that may be unique and characteristic of Canadian isolates.

In a collaborative study with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) scientists at the Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre in Vineland, Ontario, a Canadian PPV-D isolate that clusters with the Canadian subgroup II isolates was found. The isolate was associated with severe and bumpy symptoms on the fruit of a ‘Harrow Fair' peach that originated in the Niagara PPV quarantine area. Tests were negative for other viruses and viroids known to infect peach. The virus isolate was completely sequenced and was 98%-99% identical to other PPV-D isolates. This virus isolate has several unique amino acid changes in the P1, NIb, and CP regions that may or may not be associated with the unusual bumpy symptoms, if PPV is associated with the symptoms observed.

In a collaborative study with Russian scientists, CFIA has completely sequenced 9 new isolates of the strain PPV-Winona (PPV-W). CFIA scientists have found for the first time in PPV, definitive evidence of intra-strain recombination events. Recombination seems to be an important mechanism driving PPV genetic diversity. The first isolate of the PPV-W was detected in a residential area of Canada and is considered eradicated in Canada, but its origin was linked to Eastern Europe. Subsequently PPV-W was found widely distributed in Russia which is believed to be the source of this strain.

ER 43: PPV Suppression Research

Outcome: Screening of foreign plant material for pests and diseases and conduct field pre-evaluations.

Outputs and Activities: AAFC will identify foreign varieties with potential resistance to PPV. The CFIA has phytosanitary measures in place to mitigate pest movement into Canada from imported products. The CFIA will screen identified foreign plant material for resistance and hypersensitivity to PPV at the quarantine biocontainment facilities at the CFIA Sidney Laboratory.

Indicator: Plant material identified by AAFC and imported into Canada.

T 43: Targets:
Variable, based on the number of identified potential candidate varieties and laboratory capacity.

RA 43: Four varieties (3 European Plums and 1 European Almond) were received by the CFIA Sidney Laboratory via AAFC. The pre-evaluation of the plums (continual inoculation of PPV until at least one replicate shows PPV infection) showed that over three accelerated growing seasons there is a resistance to PPV in the vast majority of replicates that survived. Those trees that tested positive for PPV showed hypersensitivity (died very quickly) which could be a desirable quality for PPV monitoring and detection in PPV-susceptible plants. Propagative material from the 3 plums has been sent to AAFC in Vineland for further evaluation as PPV-resistant varieties while the mother plants will remain at Sidney Laboratory for full virus testing. The almond has gone one round of testing and dormancy and is testing positive for PPV which indicates this variety has little or no resistance to PPV.

ER 44: Virus Resistance Research

Outcome: Development of genetic and induced innate resistance in fruit trees to control PPV in Canada.

Outputs and Activities: The use of genetic resistance has been demonstrated for a number of crop species to be the most effective and sustainable approach to control viral pathogens as it is environmentally-friendly and provides reliable protection without additional labour or material costs during the growing season. Research is being vigorously carried out to develop virus resistance strategies to help protect against PPV and manage the virus over the long term. Specific research projects to support virus resistance include: (1) developing a new PPV-resistant peach tree line through gene manipulation to make susceptible hosts resistant to infection; (2) evaluating transferable resistance in rootstock that can be transmitted through grafting to existing fruit trees; (3) developing a virus vector which will act like a vaccine to induce resistance by gene silencing; (4) introducing and evaluating foreign resistance materials for potential use against PPV in Canada.

Indicators: In total, nine indicators are identified:

at least two genes in stone fruits that can be manipulated against PPV

a protocol for the production of a genetically diverse peach population using tissue culture with a chemical mutagen

a platform for screening for target gene peach variants from the peach population using next generation sequencing

a rootstock that can produce gene silencing signals

transmissible small RNAs in scions

a virus vector that is infectious on stone fruit species with potentiality against PPV

a foreign material resistant to Canadian PPV isolate

a protocol of multiplication of the foreign material using meristem tissues

Identification of a foreign material resistant to PPV suitable for use in Canada

RA 44:
Developing a new PPV-resistant peach tree line through tissue culture-based mutagenesis (by manipulation of a host gene required by PPV infection)

In 2014, there were 375 new peach lines transplanted at the Jordan Farm, 300 lines did not survive and an additional 455 new lines were generated. Screening by next generation sequencing (NGS) identified a pool of 10 plants that likely contain the target gene mutations. The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragment from the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the iso4e gene from these 10 plants is being generated and Sanger-sequenced to confirm or disprove the presence of the mutation in the 10 plants.

Developing transferrable resistance in rootstock that can be transmitted through grafting to existing fruit trees

Leaf samples from plum trees grafted onto three different rootstock-scion combinations were tested to detect small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) using solution hybridization. The leaves from the tested transgenic segments produced a strong and clearly detectable signal in the three different combination experiments. However, no detectable signals were evident in the grafted non-transgenic scions. To further enhance sensitivity for small RNA detection, NGS was used to determine the presence of rootstock-produced small RNAs in non-transgenic scions.

In 2014, we continued NGS work and performed bioinformatics analysis of the sequences that showed a number of siRNA species. No significant signals were identified in the non-transgenic scions. It was concluded that the transmissible signals, if any, may not be strong enough to confer resistance to PPV.

Developing a virus vector which will act like a vaccine to induce resistance by gene silencing

Clones of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) and Cherry rasp leave virus (CRLV) were constructed. Neither type of clones induces strong symptoms in several major Prunus fruit species. It was also found that the PNRSV infectious clone has the ability to silence a target gene in the model plant species.

In 2014, a clone derived from Tomato ringspot virus, for which peach is one of the natural hosts, was successfully constructed. The clone is infectious on model plants species and now is being tested on peach. The CRLV infectious clone does not infect peach and thus no further work will be carried out for this clone. The PNRSV infectious clone was confirmed to have the capacity to induce gene silencing in peach but inoculation of peach is not efficient (about 25%). To enhance the infection rate, a new vector was developed and will be tested in 2015.

Introduction and evaluation of foreign materials resistant to PPV

In 2014, an almond cultivar "Garrigues" was imported from Spain. This cultivar was reported to be resistant to PPV isolates in Europe. To test if it is also resistant to the Canadian PPV isolate PPV-Dideron (PPV-D) strain, the cultivar was multiplied via tissue culture using meristem tissues and identified several somatic lines for a resistance assay. A test was conducted in the greenhouse by introduction of a Canadian PPV isolate into the leaf tissues of the seedlings. The initial experiment demonstrated that the somatic lines derived from this cultivar are resistant to the Canadian PPV isolate.

ER 45: PPV Suppression Research

Outcomes: Development of recommendations based on scientific studies to further knowledge on the epidemiology of the Dideron strain of PPV in a cool temperate climate, and application of these recommendations towards the development of an integrated disease management program for the industry stakeholders to restrain the spread of PPV and reduce its economic impact.

Outputs and Activities:PPV suppression will be pursued through research to reduce PPV transmission in orchards. Research projects include assessing practices and processes, specifically the use of oil sprays on Prunus plant leaves, to suppress PPV transmission by aphids; evaluating the influence of tree variety and age on the level of seasonal resistance to natural infection by aphids; determining the efficacy of newly registered insecticides on the transmission of PPV, which will result in the development of application guidelines for use by industry; and evaluating foreign material for use in Canada (in collaboration with the CFIA). The impact of PPV infection on tree viability, bud hardiness, crop yield and fruit quality are also being examined.

Indicators: Information from research studies will be collated each year, and a final report prepared at the conclusion of the program. Information from the research will be shared with growers through grower workshops, newsletters and presented at scientific conferences. Indicators include the determination of both the beneficial and adverse effects of oil residue on leaves, including ability to detect virus; the determination of whether new insecticides (repellents, antifeedants) have any effect on virus transmission by aphids; the determination of seasonal susceptibility of peach trees to PPV and the effects of the disease on tree growth, winter hardiness, productivity and fruit quality; recommendations on the use of foliar and soil amendments to increase tree field resistance to natural transmission of PPV and improve tree productivity; recommendations on the proper timing and application of oils for optimum protection of trees to natural spread of PPV, in addition to possible interaction of new or currently used pesticides with oil applications.

T 45: Targets: Develop recommendations for the industry on integrated control practices to reduce the spread of PPV in commercial orchards and its impact on production. This will involve recommendations of the types of insecticide/antifeedant, oil applications and correct timing of applications. Information on the impact of PPV on tree productivity, hardiness and fruit quality will be made available to the industry.

RA 45: The effect of oil on aphid probing and feeding behaviour was demonstrated using electrical potential graph (EPG) both in the field and laboratory and results were published.

The efficacy of insecticides on the control of aphid and virus transmission was further examined. Assessments were made on the effects of fertilizer, micronutrients and plant growth regulators on the seasonal resistance of peach to natural infections of PPV. The fertilizer trial indicated a difference in the incidence of infection in the three rates of fertilizer but needs to be repeated to confirm this assessment. The plant growth regulators and micronutrient evaluations have been conducted for one season and the results were inconclusive. The effects of neonicotinoid's, cyantraniliproles and other insecticides on aphid feeding and virus transmission on peach seedlings in the laboratory were examined and no differences were found.

The impact of PPV infection on peach tree productivity, growth and bud hardiness was examined in the field and in the screen house and no differences were found between healthy and infected trees. No significant differences in leaf susceptibility have been demonstrated between young, medium and old age peach trees based on sampling of newly expanded leaves from the shoots. Virus titer has been shown to be consistently high in basal leaves throughout the growing season and is unaffected by temperature.

Field surveys failed to detect any trees infected with the recombinant "bumpy peach" variant of PPV.

ER 46: Education and Awareness Activities

Outcomes: An increased industry understanding and awareness of PPV best management practices along with increased industry uptake of PPV best management practices, which will also help prevent the spread of PPV.

Implementation Plan: Several activities will be conducted to increase industry knowledge and awareness of PPV management practices and to facilitate the transition from eradication to long-term management. These activities will be conducted in collaboration with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), which is responsible for providing PPV management crop advice and training to Ontario growers and nurseries. AAFC will also liaise with the Ontario Tenders Fruit Producers' Marketing Board (OTFPMB) and the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA) to develop and promote an effective educational and awareness campaign.

Indicators:AAFC will collaborate with OMAFRA to distribute information to Ontario tender fruit industry members about the PPV best management practices by publishing pamphlets and articles. An AAFC-OMAFRA fact sheet and web postings relating to the management of PPV will provide information on the disease, including symptom recognition, proper use of treatments, virus testing methods, and contact information for service providers. Information will be shared with producers through presentations at grower meetings, conferences, and information sessions. European tender fruit producers and crop advisors who have experience managing the disease will be invited to participate in the conferences, meetings, and information sessions to leverage their expertise. Information and research findings will also be provided by local crop advisors and researchers.

T46: Targets: Dissemination of information to growers/stakeholders and the scientific community on best management practices to minimize spread of PPV and reduce its impact on production.

RA 46: Funds were used in 2014-15 to research and disseminate PPV management information to the industry. Funds were also used to support the PPV clean stock program and promote its importance within the industry. The clean stock program is an important part of the management program, and grower support of this program is essential to the long term future of the industry.

Note: On April 1, 2014, the Food program moved from a commodity-based program to a single program which led to a consolidation of planned food evaluations. The CFIA Evaluation plan can change from year to year depending on priorities, adjustment of PAA, etc.

Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits

Response to Parliamentary Committees

The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry

The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry presented a report in the Senate entitled "Innovation in Agriculture: The Key to Feeding a Growing Population" on June 18, 2014. A request for a Government response was made. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, with input from Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Industry Canada, Finance Canada, Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Grain Commission, Farm Credit Canada, National Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Transport Canada, prepared the Government's response which was tabled in the Senate on November 6, 2014.

Response to the Auditor General (including to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

External Audits: (Note: These refer to other external audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages)

Details on Transfer Payments Programs

Name of Transfer Payment Program: Statutory Compensation Payments

Start Date:N/A

End Date: N/A

Description of Transfer Payment Program: Compensation payments in accordance with requirements established by regulations under the Plant Protection Act or the Health of Animals Act, and authorized pursuant to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act. These payments are to compensate Canadians, in accordance with the appropriate regulations, for plants or animals ordered destroyed for the purpose of disease control.

Comments on Variances: Actual compensation payments made to Canadians were $0.7 million higher than the $0.3 million that was earmarked under Planned Spending. This increase is largely attributed to the Potato Wart in Prince Edward Island.

Program: Animal Health and Zoonotics Program ($millions)

2012-13
Actual Spending

2013-14
Actual Spending

2014-15
Planned Spending

2014-15
Total Authorities

2014-15
Actual Spending

Variance

Total Other Types of Transfer Payments

38,282,685

57,604,105

3,200,000

11,550,351

11,550,351

8,350,351

Total Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

38,282,685

57,604,105

3,200,000

11,550,351

11,550,351

8,350,351

Comments on Variances: Actual compensation payments made to Canadians were $8.4 million higher than the $3.2 million that was earmarked under Planned Spending. This increase is largely attributed to Avian Influenza in British Columbia.

Financial Information, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (Planning Years in dollars)

Planning Year

Forecast Revenue

Estimated Full Cost

2015-16

13,024,278

44,893,660

2016-17

13,024,278

42,816,759

2017-18

13,024,278

42,532,553

Internal Services

Fee Name: Internal Services

Fee Type:
Other Products and Services

Fee-setting authority: Access to Information Act

Year last amended: 1992

Performance Standard: Response provided within 30 days following receipt of request; response time may be extended pursuant to section 9 of the ATIA. Notice of extension to be sent within 30 days of receipt of request.

Performance Results: Of the 358 requests completed under the ATIA last fiscal year, 123 (34%) were completed in under 30 days; 35 (10%) were completed in 31 to 60 days; 83 (23%) were completed in 61 to 120 days; and 117 (33%) were completed in 121 days or more.

Other Information:N/A

Financial Information - 2014-15 (dollars)

Forecast Revenue

Actual Revenue

Full Cost

3,000

3,946

2,268,685

Financial Information, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (Planning Years in dollars)

Planning Year

Forecast Revenue

Estimated Full Cost

2015-16

3,946

1,920,984

2016-17

3,946

1,832,115

2017-18

3,946

1,819,953

Summary of Financial Information for All User Fees and Regulatory Charges 2014-15 (dollars)

Forecast Revenue

Actual Revenue

Full Cost

Regulatory subtotal

53,161,000

52,284,377

930,396,548

Other products and services subtotal

3,000

3,946

2,268,685

Total, all fee types

53,164,000

52,288,323

932,665,233

Summary of Financial Information for All User Fees and Regulatory Charges, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (dollars)

Planning Year

Forecast revenue

Estimated full cost

Regulatory subtotal

2015-16

53,161,000

787,803,248

2016-17

53,161,000

751,357,356

2017-18

53,161,000

746,370,050

Other products and services subtotal

2015-16

3,946

1,920,984

2016-17

3,946

1,832,115

2017-18

3,946

1,819,953

Total, all fee types

2015-16

53,164,946

789,724,232

2016-17

53,164,946

753,189,471

2017-18

53,164,946

748,190,003

Reporting on the Policy on Service Standards for External Fees

General Information by Fee

2012-2013 The CFIA's Performance Report on External Fees

External Fee

Service Standard

Performance Results

Stakeholder Consultation

Fees charged for the processing of access requests filed under the Access to Information Act (ATIA)

Response provided within 30 days following receipt of request; response time may be extended pursuant to section 9 of the ATIA. Notice of extension to be sent within 30 days of receipt of request.

Of the 358 requests completed under the ATIA last fiscal year, 123 (34%) were completed in under 30 days; 35 (10%) were completed in 31 to 60 days; 83 (23%) were completed in 61 to 120 days; and 117 (33%) were completed in 121 days or more.

The service standard is established by the ATIA and the Access to Information Regulations. Consultations with stakeholders were undertaken by the Department of Justice and the Treasury Board Secretariat for amendments made in 1986 and 1992.

Service Standards for applications for Veterinary Biologics activities

To address stakeholder concerns, a phased review system is in place, allowing for initial submission review and response while information and data are pending. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the Canadian Animal Health Products Regulatory Advisory Committee (CAHPRAC), which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

2. Review supplemental data and prepare response

Maximum response time is six weeks

Summary data not available for fiscal year 2014-2015.

To address stakeholder concerns, a phased review system is in place, allowing for initial submission review and response while information and data are pending. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

American Manufacturers

External Fee

Service Standard

Performance Results

Stakeholder Consultation

3. Review initial submission and prepare response

Maximum response time is four months

19 applications completed an initial review

13 applications completed initial review within four months

68%

To address stakeholder concerns about timely availability of U.S. manufactured products, a concurrent review system was introduced to allow for initial submission review and response while U.S. licensure is being finalized. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

4. Review supplemental data and prepare response

Maximum response time is six weeks

Summary data not available for fiscal year 2014-2015.

To address stakeholder concerns about timely availability of U.S. manufactured products, a concurrent review system was introduced to allow for initial submission review and response while U.S. licensure is being finalized. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

Manufacturers from other countries

External Fee

Service Standard

Performance Results

Stakeholder Consultation

5. Review initial submission and prepare response

Maximum response time is six months

One application completed review.

One application completed initial review within max response time.

100%

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

6. Review supplemental data and prepare response

Maximum response time is six weeks

Summary data not available for fiscal year 2014-2015

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

Facility Inspections/Audits

External Fee

Service Standard

Performance Results

Stakeholder Consultation

7. Canadian manufacturers

Annual

5 inspections or audits completed

100%

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

8. Canadian importers

Minimum every three years

11 inspections or audits completed

100%

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

9. American manufacturers

Minimum every three years

No US manufactures were inspection in 2014-15

For facilities inspected annually and licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), CCVB may inspect when the product is first licensed in Canada. Subsequent inspections will be arranged as necessary. CCVB may request copies of inspection reports from USDA-APHIS. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

10. Other non-Canadian manufacturers

Minimum every four years

No inspections were scheduled in 2014-15.

For facilities inspected regularly for Good Manufacturing Practices, CCVB may inspect when the product is first licensed in Canada. Subsequent inspections will be arranged as necessary. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

11. Issuance of Permits, Licenses and Export Certificates

Maximum response time is two weeks

96%, 95%, and 97%

Emergency use import permits 96% (239/250)

Permits to Release Veterinary Biologics 95% (59/62)

Veterinary Biologics Export Certificates 97% (128/132)

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

Serial Release

External Fee

Service Standard

Performance Results

Stakeholder Consultation

12. If not tested

Maximum response time is 10 working days

217 applications were received.

211 applications were completed on time.

97%

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

13. If tested

Maximum response time is 35 days

4 applications were received.

4 applications were completed on time.

100%

Due to test scheduling and set up requirements, the average response time has consistently approached the maximum response time of 35 days. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

14. Label Review and Approval

Maximum response time is four weeks

131 applications were received.

109 applications approved within four weeks

100%

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

15. Advertising Review and Approval

Maximum response time is four weeks

Average response time is two weeks

Not applicable.

Health of Animals Regulation 135.3 was repealed in 1997 to remove the requirement for pre-approval of advertising.

16. Protocol Review for Efficacy/Safety Studies

Maximum response time is 45 days

Summary data not available for 2014-15 Other than as components of new product licensing submissions, no efficacy or safety study protocols were submitted for review in 2014-2015.

Protocol review for issuance of a Permit to Release Veterinary Biologic for unlicensed products. Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

17. Production Outline Revisions

Maximum response time is four weeks

Summary data not available for 2014-15

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

18. Suspected Adverse Reactions

Maximum response time is four weeks

Summary data not available for 2014-15

Stakeholder consultations have been conducted as part of the semi-annual meetings of the CAHPRAC, which were held on June 19, 2014, November 14, 2014 and June 18, 2015. The next stakeholder consultation is scheduled for November 19, 2015. At these committee meetings, which are held in Ottawa, CFIA Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics and the Animal Feed Division provide update reports their regulatory programs, including a report on the delivery of cost-recovered regulatory services.

Application for Feed Registration and Ingredient Approval(i) Timeliness: For 90 percent or more of the applications received

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

(b) For products requiring a review of efficacy data, a preliminary review is conducted within 10 days of the screening date, and results are communicated to the applicant.

Data not available for 2014-15

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

(d) The laboratory does a desk review of proposed methods of analysis within four weeks of receiving them. If laboratory testing is required, it will be done within 12 weeks of receiving a suitable method and test samples depending on availability of specialized equipment.

Data not available for 2014-15

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

(ii) Quality

External Fee

Service Standard

Performance Results

Stakeholder Consultation

(a) The Feeds Regulations are consistently interpreted and applied in registration/approval decisions.

100%

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

(b) Information is openly exchanged between clients and evaluation specialists.

100%

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

The most recent stakeholder consultation concerning service standards took place in fiscal year 2015/16 (June 18, 2015). The consultation took place through the CAHPRAC. This committee has a round table meeting semi-annually and the Animal Feed Division uses it as a forum to address stakeholder concerns about capacity and timeliness of the regulatory approval process (i.e. service standards).

The CFIA consults with the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable sector on an ongoing basis, and at least bi-annually with its National Advisory Board for the DIS, which most recently occurred in June 2015.

DIS service standards and user fees are reviewed every five years.

The current DIS user fee came into effect on April 1, 2014; the next scheduled review would be at a minimum, April 1, 2019. The most recent consultation on service standards was held from December 13, 2012 to February 21, 2013.

The consultation was conducted online and included posting the user fee proposal on the CFIA website and providing a link on the Consulting Canadians website, issuing a World Trade Organization notification, engagement with national industry associations and outreach through front-line staff.

Tax Expenditures and Evaluations Report

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures annually in the Tax Expenditures and EvaluationsEndnote xxii publication. The tax measures presented in the Tax Expenditures and Evaluations publication are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Reports on an appropriated organization's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Report on Plans and Priorities. These reports are tabled in Parliament in the fall.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein):

Is a measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

Government of Canada outcomes (résultats du gouvernement du Canada):

A set of
16 high-level objectives defined for the government as a whole, grouped in four spending areas: economic affairs, social affairs, international affairs and government affairs.

A comprehensive framework that consists of an organization's inventory of programs, resources, results, performance indicators and governance information.
Programs and results are depicted in their hierarchical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The Management, Resources and Results Structure is developed from the Program Alignment Architecture.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires):

Includes net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement):

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement):

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

For Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs) and Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs), planned spending refers to those amounts that receive Treasury Board approval by February 1. Therefore, planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditures presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their RPPs and DPRs.

plan (plan):

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

priorities (priorité):

Plans or projects that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s).

program (programme):

A group of related resource inputs and activities that are managed to meet specific needs and to achieve intended results and that are treated as a budgetary unit.

Provides information on the plans and expected performance of appropriated organizations over a three-year period. These reports are tabled in Parliament each spring.

result (résultat):

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives):

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique):

A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization's mandate, vision and core functions.

sunset program (programme temporisé):

A time-limited program that does not have an ongoing funding and policy authority. When the program is set to expire, a decision must be made whether to continue the program. In the case of a renewal, the decision specifies the scope, funding level and duration.

target (cible):

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées):

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

whole-of-government framework (cadre pangouvernemental):

Maps the financial contributions of federal organizations receiving appropriations by aligning their Programs to a set of 16 government-wide, high-level outcome areas, grouped under four spending areas.

Appendix: Performance Measurement Framework Methodologies

Strategic Outcome

MRRS Level

MRRS Id

Program Name

Type Selection

Strategic Outcome / Expected Result

Outcome / Performance Indicator

Data Source

Methodology

SO

1

All Programs

Strategic Outcome

A safe and accessible food supply and plant and animal resource base

Program 1.1 - Food Safety Program

MRRS Level

MRRS Id

Program Name

Type Selection

Strategic Outcome / Expected Result

Outcome / Performance Indicator

Data Source

Methodology

P

1.1.1

Food Safety

Expected Result

Risks to the Canadian public associated with the food supply system are mitigated

Number of commodity areas where inspected federally-registered establishments meet established compliance targets

[(Total # establishments inspected – Total #warning letters/suspensions/cancellations*) / Total #establishments inspected] X 100
*Total # warning letters/suspensions/cancellations: Total # of enforcement actions (warning letters are only counted for infractions related to establishments that are NOT in compliance with regulations)

[(Total # establishments inspected – Total #warning letters/suspensions/cancellations*) / Total #establishments inspected] X 100
*Total # warning letters/suspensions/cancellations: Total # of enforcement actions (warning letters are only counted for infractions related to establishments that are NOT in compliance with regulations)

[(Total # establishments inspected – Total #warning letters/suspensions/cancellations*) / Total #establishments inspected] X 100
*Total # warning letters/suspensions/cancellations: Total # of enforcement actions (warning letters are only counted for infractions related to establishments that are NOT in compliance with regulations)

Program 1.2 - Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Risks to Canadians from the transmission of animal diseases to humans are minimized

Number of reportable animal diseases that have entered into Canada via specified regulated pathways

Animal Health Programs, Science (Electronic and manual source)

Count of notifications confirming entry of reportable Animal Diseases from Animal Products and By-Products, and Live Animals and Germplasm areas

P

1.2.2

Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Expected Result

Risks to Canadians from the transmission of animal diseases to humans are minimized

Percentage of cases where investigations were completed following the positive identification of a reportable zoonotic disease

Animal Health Programs, Science (Electronic and manual source)

[Number of investigations completed following suspicion or positive identification / Number of investigations started following suspicion or positive identification for reportable zoonotic diseases for which CFIA has a control program] X 100

P

1.2.3

Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Expected Result

Domestic and imported animals and animal products are compliant with Canadian regulations and international agreements

[(Number of animal and animal product shipments that were legally exported with an export certificate - Number that were rejected by destination country) / Number of animal and animal product shipments that were legally exported with an export certificate] x 100

P

1.2.4

Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Expected Result

Domestic and imported animals and animal products are compliant with Canadian regulations and international agreements

Percentage of cases where investigations were completed following the positive identification of a reportable animal disease

Animal Health Programs, Science (Electronic and manual source)

[Number of investigations completed following positive identification / Number of investigations started following positive identification for reportable animal diseases for which CFIA has a control program] X 100

Number of emergency preparedness simulation exercises and drills in which CFIA participates

Animal Health Programs (Electronic and manual source)

Count of emergency preparedness exercises and drills in which CFIA participates

P

1.2.8

Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Expected Result

Disease outbreaks in Canada are promptly and effectively responded to

Percentage of detections of reportable transboundry diseases and significant emerging in which an investigation was commenced in a timely fashion

Animal Health Programs, Science (Electronic and manual source)

[Number of timely commencements for investigations of detections of reportable animal diseases for which CFIA has a control program / Number of all investigations started for detections of reportable animal diseases for which CFIA has a control program] X 100

P

1.2.9

Animal Health and Zoonotics Program

Expected Result

Disease outbreaks in Canada are promptly and effectively responded to

Percentage of cases where CFIA communicated with key stakeholders in a timely fashion following the confirmation of a transboundry or significant emerging disease

Animal Health Programs (Electronic and manual source)

[Number of cases where key stakeholders were communicated with in a timely fashion / Number of key stakeholder communications following the confirmation of a reportable animal disease or significant emerging disease] X 100

[(Number of certificates issued for certified products - Number of instances where foreign import requirements were not met (monitored based on country refusal of Canadian goods)) / Number of certificates issued for aquatic animals and animal products] X 100

SP

1.2.2.2

Aquatic Animal Health

Expected Result

Risks to the Canadian aquatic animal resource base are mitigated

Number of reportable aquatic animal diseases that have entered into Canada via specified regulated pathways

Animal Aquatic Animal Health division (Electronic and Manual sources)

Count of reportable aquatic animal diseases that have entered Canada via regulated pathways Methodology: Clients are required under the Health of Animals Regulations Section 5 to report suspicion of disease. Each report is investigated, an Aquatic Questionnaire form is filled in and recorded in an excel spreadsheet. To determine the number of diseases that enter via regulated pathways requires a count of the Aquatic reports at the end of the year. Currently the count just includes the import regulated pathway as the domestic NAAHP program has not been implemented as a regulated pathway.

Sub - Program 1.2.3 - Feed

MRRS Level

MRRS Id

Program Name

Type Selection

Strategic Outcome / Expected Result

Outcome / Performance Indicator

Data Source

Methodology

SP

1.2.3.1

Feed

Expected Result

Feed establishments meet federal regulations

Percentage of inspected feed establishments in compliance with Feeds Regulations and Health of Animals Regulations (Feed Ban), after follow-up, not including labelling tasks

Animal feed division (Electronic and Manual sources)

[(Number of active facilities - Number of facilities with open, overdue Corrective Action Requests (CARs) not associated with labelling) / Number of active facilities] X 100

SP

1.2.3.2

Feed

Expected Result

Feed labels meet federal regulations

Percentage of inspected feed facilities in compliance with Feeds Regulations and Health of Animals Regulations (Feed Ban), after follow-up, when assessed against inspection tasks associated with labelling

Confirmed introductions of quarantine pests in Canada are contained and risk-mitigated (e.g. through the issuance of Notices of Prohibition of Movement, Quarantine, up to and including the issuance of Ministerial Orders)

Percentage of confirmed introductions of quarantine pests for which notices are issued

[Number of notices issued by Operation Staff for pests listed in the NAPPO Official Pest Reports for Canada / Number of pests listed in the NAPPO Official Pest Reports for Canada] x 100%

P

1.3.4

Plant Resource Program

Expected Result

Confirmed introductions of quarantine pests in Canada are contained and risk-mitigated (e.g. through the issuance of Notices of Prohibition of Movement, Quarantine, up to and including the issuance of Ministerial Orders)

[(Number of phytosanitary certificates issued by CFIA - Number of Notices of Non-compliance issued by foreign countries for shipments where CFIA issued a phytosanitary certificate) / Number of phytosanitary certificates issued by CFIA] x 100

Sub - Program 1.3.1 - Plant Protection

MRRS Level

MRRS Id

Program Name

Type Selection

Strategic Outcome / Expected Result

Outcome / Performance Indicator

Data Source

Methodology

SP

1.3.1.1

Plant Protection

Expected Result

Pre-border plant pest risks are mitigated

Percentage of inspected shipments from off-shore system approaches or pre-clearance programs in compliance with federal regulations

[Number of submissions reviewed that meet service standards/ Number of submissions reviewed] x 100%

Sub - Program 1.3.4 Intellectual Property Rights

MRRS Level

MRRS Id

Program Name

Type Selection

Strategic Outcome / Expected Result

Outcome / Performance Indicator

Data Source

Methodology

SP

1.3.4.1

Intellectual Property Rights

Expected Result

Plant breeders develop new varieties for the Canadian market

Percentage of Plant Breeders' Rights applications that reach approval and are granted rights

Plant Breeders' Rights Office (Electronic source)

[Total delays in publishing (days) / 365] x100

Program 1.4 - International Collaboration and Technical Agreements

MRRS Level

MRRS Id

Program Name

Type Selection

Strategic Outcome / Expected Result

Outcome / Performance Indicator

Data Source

Methodology

P

1.4.1

International Collaboration and Technical Agreements

Expected Result

Canadian interests are reflected in science-based international rules, standards, Free Trade Agreements, and technical arrangements through effective participation in sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) negotiations and International Standards Setting Bodies (ISSB) such as Codex, OIE, and IPPC

Number of key sanitary and phytosanitary negotiations and international standards setting bodies meetings where the CFIA promoted Canada's interests

Electronic and manual sources

Count of key sanitary and phytosanitary negotiations and international standard setting body meetings where the CFIA clearly articulated Canadian positions and promoted Canada's interests.

P

1.4.2

International Collaboration and Technical Agreements

Expected Result

International markets are accessible to Canadian food, animals, plants, and their products

Number of unjustified non-tariff barriers resolved.

Electronic and manual sources

Compilation of market access successes (for export) throughout the year (i.e. access gained, regained or maintained by: agreed certificates, equivalency agreement or other form of bilateral agreements)

P

1.4.3

International Collaboration and Technical Agreements

Expected Result

International regulatory cooperation, relationship building and technical assistance activities that are inline with the CFIA's mandate

Number of senior level CFIA-led committees with foreign regulatory counterparts